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THE 



LIFE 



OF 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD 



WITH 



SELECTIONS FROM HIS WORKS 



EDITED BY 



GEORGE E.^AKER 




REDFIELD 

110 AND 112 NASSAU STREET. NEW YORK. 
185 5. , 




'7 


..Sf r 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854,- 

By J. S. REDFIELD, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Southern 

District of New York. 



8TERE0TYPKD BY C. C. SAVAGE, 
13 Cliambers Street, N. Y. 



PREFACE 



"The Works of William H. Seward" are already before 
the public in three large volumes. They have been 
received with much favor. At the same time they have 
increased the demand for an edition in a more reduced 
and economical form. The present volume is intended to 
meet that want. The Memoir which follows is substan- 
tially the same as that contained in the larger edition. Its 
faithfulness has been generally acknowledged. Two new 
chapters have been added to it in the present volume. 
They recite the history of the Compromises of 1850, the 
defeat of the Whig party in 1852, and the abrogation of 
the Missouri Compromise in 1854. A number of extracts 
from Mr. Seward's Speeches have also been introduced to 
illustrate the text. 

A portion of the volume has been appropriated to Selec- 
tions from Mr. Seward's Works. Among these Selections 
will be found extracts from most of his Addresses and 
Orations, his Executive Messages, his Forensic Arguments, 
and his Speeches in the Senate. Although comparatively 
few and brief, they embrace a great variety of topics under 
the heads of Agriculture, Internal Improvements, Educa- 
tion, Freedom, Commerce, and Miscellaneous. Besides 



4 PREFACE. 

the extracts in these general divisions, Mr. Seward's Ora- 
tion on the Destiny of America, and his two elaborate 
Speeches in the Senate on the "Nebraska Question," are 
presented entire. 

Recent events have given great interest and significance 
to many of Mr. Seward's Speeches. The prophetic warn- 
ings which abomid in his Speeches on the Compromise Acts 
of 1850 appear now like sober history. Whoever will 
compare his Speeches on the abrogation of the Missouri 
Compromise with those of 1850, and also with his earliest 
productions, can hardly fail to award him the praise of 
consistency with himself, whatever judgment may be passed 
upon the principles he has so faithfully defended. And, 
while all may not be ready to allow that no errors have 
occurred in his public life, few will contend that any motive 
inconsistent with the highest regard for the interests of 
Human Nature or the honor of his country has ever influ- 
enced him. It may be, as Mr. Seward himself has re- 
marked, that in seeking to perfect the diffusion of knowl- 
edge — in desiring to raise from degradation less-favored 
classes, depressed by unequal laws — or in aiming to carry 
into remote or sequestered regions the jDhysical and com- 
mercial advantages enjoyed by more-favored districts, he 
has urged too earnestly what seemed to him to be the 
claims of humanity, justice, and equity. But, while the 
verdict is not to be looked for in the passing hour, it is 
very manifest that a generous appreciation has hitherto 
met all his efforts, from a large and steadily-increasing 
portion of his fellow-citizens. To such we trust this vol- 
ume will not be unwelcome. 

The Editor. 

Brooklyn, L. I., Jan. 1, 1855. 



CONTENTS. 



CONTENTS OF THE MEMOIR. 

CHAPTER I. 

The Seward Family. — John Seward. — Revolutionary Anecdote. — 
Samuel S. Seward.— The S. S. Seward Institute.— The Mother of 
"William H. Seward. — Irish Lineage.— Ireland and Irishmen. . .page 13 

CHAPTER II. 

"William Henry Seward. — Birthplace. — Boyhood. — School-Days. — 
_^is,Jlather!a.^lave.-T- Orange County. — Goshen. — "Warwick. — Flor- 
ida. — Settlement. — Scenery. — George, James, and De "Witt Clinton. 

— Anecdotes. — Farmer's Hall Academy. — Aaron Burr. — Noah Web- 
ster. — Young Seward enters Union College at Fifteen IV 

CHAPTER III. 

His College Life. — Characteristics. — Favorite Studies. — Visits the South. 

— Becomes a Teacher. — Slavery. — Anecdotes. — The Slave and the 
Blind Horse.— The Slave Mother.— Return to College.— The Adel- 
phic, Philomathean, and Delphian Societies. — Exciting Contests. — 
Triumph of Seward. — Orator of the Adelphic Society. — Graduates. 
— "William Kent. — Dr. Hickok. — Pi'ofessor Lewis. — Seward appoint- 
ed to address Daniel D. Tompkins. — His Relations with Dr. Nott 
and his College Companions 20 

CHAPTER IV. 

Enters the Law-OfRce of John Anthon as a Student. — Completes his 
Studies with John Duer and Ogden Hoffman. — Admitted to the 
Bar. — Removes to Auburn. — Associated with Judge Miller. — Mar- 
riage. — Children. — Auburn, its Characteristics. — Mr. Reward's Re- 
ligious Principles, — His Early Devotion to Public Improvement. — 
Character as a Lawyer. — John C. Spencer. — Joshua A. Spencer. — 
Albert H. Tracy.— John M. Hulbert.— William M. Brown.— Mr. 
Seward's Success at the Bar 25 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

His Political Predilections. — His Father an ardent Democrat. — The 
Leaders of the Democratic Party unfaithful to Freedom. — Mr^^^w^ 
ard takes Ground against Slavery. — His Views and Course^^ — His 
Views of the Albany Regency in 1824. — Delivers an Oration July 4, 
1825. — His Position then on Important Questions. — Oration for 
Greece. — Eulogy on David Berdan. — Young Men's Convention, — 
Mr. Seward presides. — Favorable Impressions excited. — John Q. 
Adams and General Jackson. — Anti-Masonic Excitement. — Mr. Sew- 
ard nominated for Congress in 1828. — Declines. — Supports the Na- 
tional Republican Party. — Nominated for the State Senate. — Elected 29 

CHAPTER VI. 

Mr. Seward enters the Senate of New York. — Circumstances. — His 
Position and Course. — His Maiden Speech. — Militia Reforms. — In- 
ternal Improvements. — Imprisonment for Debt. — Universal Educa- 
tion. — Elections by the People. — The United States Bank. — Prison 
for Females. — Erie Railroad. — Origin of the Whig Party. — Banking. 

— Prison Reform. — Corporations 84 

CHAPTER VII. 

Presidential Election, 1832. — Clay and "Wirt. — Mr. Seward's Course. — 
Visits Europe. — Letters from Europe. — Returns and resumes his 
Seat in the Senate. — Speech on the Removal of the Deposites. — Gov- 
ernor Marcy's Loan Law. — The Court of Errors. — Mr. Seward as a 
Judge. — His Eulogium on Lafayette. 40 

CHAPTER VIII 

Nominated for Governor, 1834. — Defeated. — His large Vote. — Deliv- 
ers an Address on Education and Internal Improvements at Auburn. 

— Appointed Agent of the Holland Land Company. — Delivers a Dis- 
course on Education at Westfield, Chautauque County, July, 1837. 
— Triumph of the Whigs, — Nev/ York and Erie Railroad. — Mr. 
Seward's Efforts in its Behalf. — Second Nomination for Governor, 
1838. — Circumstances of the Canvass. — Elected Governor. — Com- 
plete Success of the Whigs, and Overthrow of the Regency 46 

CHAPTER IX. 

Mr. Seward the First Whig Governor of New York. — Peculiar Circum- 
stances. — Mr. Seward's Course and Measures. — His Devotion to Im- 
provements and Reforms. — Agriculture. — Education. — The School 
Controversy. — Immigrants. — Law Reform. — Decentralization of the 
Regency Power. — Reforms in the Banking System. — Small-Bill Law. 

— Geological Survey. — Notes on New York. — Abolition of Impris- 
onment for Debt. 52 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER X. 

Governor Seward's Course in the Anti-Rent Difficulties. — Yindication 
by the Court of Appeals. — Militia Reforms. — Election Laws. — Veto 
of the Registry Act suppressed. — Disturbances in Canada. — The 
M'Leod Case. — General Harrison. — -^Mr. "Webster. — Mr. Crittenden. 
—Mr. Fox.— Mr. Van Buren.— Willis Hall.— John Tyler.— Mr, 
Seward's Firmness and Wisdom illustrated 60 

CHAPTER XI. 

Governor Seward and the Canals. — The Enlargement Question. — Re- 
port of S. B. Ruggles.— Mr. Flagg's Policy.— The State Debt- 
Financial Crisis. — Erroneous Estimates by the Canal Commissioners 
discovered. — A General Panic. — Suspension of the Public Works. — 
Governor Seward's Course. — Resumption of the Public Works. — His 
Policy vindicated and re-established in 1854. — Railroads: New 
York and Erie; Hudson River; Pacific. — Governor Sewai-d's Plans 
on the Eve of Completion 68 

CHAPTER XH. 

Governor Seward's Exercise of the Pardoning Power. — Pardon Cases. 

— The Insane Murderer. — Female Convicts. — Juvenile Delinquents. 

— Benjamin Rathbun. — John C. Colt. — Catherine Wilkins. — The 
Slaveholder. — James Watson Webb and Thomas F. Marshall. — The 
Veto Power. — Cases. — Madame D'Hauteville. — Thurlow Weed. — 
The Registry Act. — Suspension of Public Works. — Refusal of the 
Legislature to receive Governor Seward's Messages 76 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Governor Seward's Course on Questions relating to Slavery. — Repeal 
of the Nine-Months Law. — The Lemmon Case. — Jury Trial for Fugi- 
tive Slaves. — State Officers prohibited from assisting in Arrest of 
Fugitive Slaves.— Recovery of Kidnapped Negroes. — Solomon Nor- 
throp. — African Suffrage. — The Virginia Controversy. — Extraordin- 
ary Proceedings. — Imprisonment of Colored Men in Slave States. — 
Governor Seward's Course. — Resolves to decline a Re-Election. — 
General Harrison's Election in 1840. — Mr. Clay's Nomination in 1844. 

— Governor Seward's View. — Annexation of Texas. — Increase of 
Anti-Slavery Votes. — Defeat of the Whigs. — Luther Bradish. — Gov- 
ernor Bouck. — Close of Governor Seward's Second Term 82 

CHAPTER XIY. 

Mr. Seward in Private Life. — Receives John Quincy Adams at Auburn. 

— Their Intimate Relations. — Death of John Quincy Adams. — Mr. 
Seward's Eulogy. — Address at Union College in 1843. — Repeated 



5 CONTENTS. 

at Amherst. — Mr. Seward as an Advocate. — Practice at the Bar. — 
United States Courts. — Patent Causes. — Invention. — Extract from 
Argument. — Criminal Cases. — Liberty of the Press. — Cooper vs. 
Greelej. — Capital Trial at Cooperstown. — Fugitive Slave Trial. -r- 
Extract from Argument. — Eulogy on O'Connell. — Extract 90 

CHAPTER XV. 

The "Wyatt and Freeman Cases. — Massacre of the Yan ISTest Family. 

Extraordinai-y Excitement. — Conviction of Wyatt. — Trial of Free- 
man. — Unprecedented Proceedings. — John Van Buren. — Mr. Sew^ 
ard's Defence of Wyatt and Freeman. — Scenes in Court, — Popular 
Feeling. — Denunciations of the Press. — The Verdict. — Extract from 

. Mr. Seward's Argument. — Sentence of Freeman. — Strange Scene. — 
Mr. Seward's Bill of Exceptions. — N"ew Trial granted. — Death of 
Freeman. — Change in Public Opinion. — Review of the Case 99 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Trial of Abel F. Fitch and Others for Conspiracy at Detroit in 1851. 
— Fifty Persons indicted. — Michigan Central Railroad Company. — 
Mr. Seward's Defence. — Extract from his Argument. — Character of 
Mr. Seward's Professional Labors. — Liberty of the Press. — Fugitive 
Sl ave La W;-— Rights of Inventors. — His Views of Libel-Suits 116 

CHAPTER XVIL 

Mr. Seward recalled to Public Life. — Retrospect. — Organization of the 
N"ative American Party. — Burning of Catholic Churches. — Mr. Sew- 
ard's Course. — Henry Clay. — Annexation of Texas. — War with Mex- 
ico. — The Oregon Question. — Hunkers and Barnburners. — Constitu- 
tional Convention, 1846. — Mr. Seward's Views. — Internal Improve- 
ments. — Right of Suffrage. — Decentralization. — Presidential Election, 
1848. — General Taylor. — The Canvass.— Mr. Seward's Speeches. — 
His Speech at Cleveland. — Extract. — The Whig Platform in 1848. — 
Freedom and Slavery. — Speeches in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, 
and New York. — General Taylor, Mr. Clay, and Mr. Webster. — Mr. 
Seward's Estimate of the Presidency ... 120 

CHAPTER XYIIL 

President Taylor. — Mr, Seward elected Senator. — Visits Washington. 
— Effort for Freedom. — His Relations with General Taylor. — Cali- 
fornia. — New Mexico. — The Higher Law. — The Compromise. — 
Freedom in District of Columbia. — French Spoliations. — The Public 
Lands. — Kossuth. — Smith O'Brien. — Thomas F. Meaglier. — Freedom 
in Europe. — American Steam Navigation. — Survey of the Arctic and 
Pacific Ocean. — American Fisheries. — Visit to Vermont. — Agricul- 
tural Address. — Extract. — Visit to Canada. — Montreal. — Quebec. . 131 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



The Presidential Election of 1852. — Review of the Slavery Contest of 
1850. — Mr. Seward's Opposition. — Mr. Clay. — Mr. Webs,ter. — Gen- 
eral Cass. — General Taylor's Position. — Mr. Seward supports it. — 
Denounced as an Agitator. — Utah and N"ew Mexico. — The Fugitive 
Slave Bill. — The Compromisers. — Death of President Taylor. — Mr. 
Fillmore. — His Course and Coalition with the Democrats. — Mr. Sew- 
ard's Opposition. — The Baltimore Conventions of 1852, Democratic 
and Whig. — Franklin Pierce. — General Scott. — Millard Fillmore. — 
Daniel "Webster. — Platform for Slavery. — Position of Mr. Seward's 
Friends. — Mr. "Webster's Course. — His Death.- — Triumph of the 
Democrats. — Election of Franklin Pierce. — Overthrow of the "Whigs. 

— Defeat of General Scott. — Effect upon Mr. Seward 141 

CHAPTER XX. 

XXXHd Congress, Second Session 1852-53. — Mr. Seward's Speeches. 

— John Quincy Adams and General Cass.— -Vindication of Mr. Adama 
— John C. Calhoun. — The Monroe Doctrine. — Annexation of Cuba. 

— Mr. Seward's Views. — Mexico and the Continental Railroad. — 
Suspension of Duty on Railroad Iron. — Extract from Mr. Seward's 
Speech on Railroads. — Texas and her Creditors. — Oration at Colum- 
bus. — The Destiny of America. — Address before the American Insti- 
tute. — The True Basis of American Independence. — Eulogium on 
James Tallmadge 150 

CHAPTER XXI. 

XXXIIId Congress. — Nebraska. — Inauguration of President Pierce. — 
High Expectations of Beneficent Legislation. — Revision of the Tariff. 
— The Homestead. — Pacific Railroad. — Disappointment. — Introduc- 
tion of the Nebraska Bill by Mr. Douglas. — Veto of the Bill for Re- 
lief of the Insane. — The Nebraska Bill. — Fruit of the Compromise 
Measures of 1850. — Senators Everett, Chase, Sumner, Truman Smith, 
Wade, Bell, Houston, and Fessenden. — Mr. Seward's Letter to the 
New York Merchants. — His Position. — His First Speech. — Second 
Speech. — Passage of the Bill. — Effect of Mr. Seward's Speeches on 
the Country. — His Speech on the Reception of a Remonstrance from 
3050 Clergymen. — The Right of Petition vindicated. — The Gadsden 
Treaty. — The Reciprocity Treaty. — Review of Mr. Seward's Course 
in the Senate. — Eulogium on Henry Clay. — Eulogium on Daniel 
Webster. — Debates in the Senate. — Address before the Phi Beta 
Kappa Society of Yale College. — Honorary Degree of Doctor of 
Laws conferred upon Mr. Seward. — His Relations to the Whig Party 

and to Mr. Fillmore's Administration. — Conclusion 161 

1* 



10 CONTENTS. 



CONTENTS OF THE SELECTIONS, 

AGRICULTURE. 

Improvement in Agriculture Essential to the Security of Republican 
Institutions. — Extracts from Annual Messages. — The Homestead of 
the American Farmer should be exempted from Involuntary Sale. — 
Extract from Speech in the Senate on the Homestead Bill. — Popular 
Prejudices against Improvement in Agriculture Unreasonable and Per- 
nicious. — Address before the Vermont State Agricultural Society at 
Rutland, 1852. — Improvement of Farms and Farmers. — Address be- 
fore the New York State Agricultural Society at Albany, 1842 176 

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 

Internal Improvement the Policy of the Founders of the Republic. — 
Extracts from Annual Messages. — Internal Improvement Wise and 
Beneficent. — Address at the New York and Erie Railroad Conven- 
tion at Elmira, ISoY. — Internal Improvement the Real Source of the 
Prosperity of New York, and the only Sure Bond of Union of the 
States. — Remarlcs at the Celebration of the Completion of the New 
York and Erie Railroad, Dunkirk, 1851. — The Suspension of the 
Public Works of New York condemned and their Resumption recom- 
mended. — Extract from Annual Message, 1842. — New York and 
Massachusetts. — Address at the Celebration of the Completion of the 
Western Railroad between l^oston and Albany, at Springfield, 1842. 184 

EDUCATION. 

The Proper Range of Popular Education. — Address at Westfield, N. Y., 
1833. — Popular Education a Leveller. — Address at Sunday -School 
Celebration, 1839. — Female Education. — Improvement of Popular 
Education must begin not with the Government, but with the Peo- 
ple. — Education preferable to Conquest. — Speeches in the Senate. ^ — 
The Bible the Basis of Republican Institutions. — Annual Messages 
to the Legislature. — The System of Public Schools defective. — 
Amendment proposed. — Education of the Children of Exiles. — New 
York Public School Society 200 

FREEDOM. 

John Quincy Adams. — Eulogy before the Court of Chancery. — Mutual 
Rights and Duties of Nations. — Speeches in the Senate. — The Right 
of Petition. — Remonstrance of 3050 Clergymen of New England 
against the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise. — Political Equality. 
— Religious Intolerance. — Intolerance. — Louis Kossuth. — The Trib- 
unal of Public Opinion. — The Shade of Franklin. — Congressional 



CONTENTS. 11 

Compromised. — The Recaption of Fugitive Slaves in the Free States. 

— Speeches in the Senate on the Compromises of 1850. — The Fugi- 
tive Slave Law of 1793 Unconstitutional and Void. — Argument in 
the United States Supreme Courts.— Extradition of Fugitives.— 
Emancipation in the District of Columbia. — Admission of New Slave 
States.— Uses of the National Domain.— The Higher Law.— Slavery 
in the New Territories. — Apprehensions of Disunion Groundless. — 
Slavery. — The Slavery Question can never be settled by Compro- 
mises. — Moderation ■ 219 

COMMERCE. 
Public Faith. — Speeches in the Senate. — French Spoliations. — Ameri- 
can Enterprise. — American Steam Navigation. — Collins Steamers. — 
The Whale Fisheries. — Commerce on the Pacific. — A Continental 
Railroad to the Pacific 276 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

The American People.— -Their Moral and Intellectual Development- 
Address at Yale College, July, 1854.— Insanity.— Argument in De- 
fence of William Freeman, Auburn, July, 1846. — Insanity. — Some 
of its Causes and Circumstances. — The Wrongs of the Negro. — The 
Indians. — Speech of an Onondaga Chief. — Governor Seward's Reply. 
—Letter.— Reply to the Colored Citizens of Alban}', January, 1843. 

— Speech in the Senate of New York, February, 1831.— The Militia 
System. — Reforms proposed. — Speech in the Senate of the United 
States, 1852. — The Public Domain. — The Homestead Principle. — 
The Whig Party.— The Albany Regency in 1824.— Secret Political 
Societies. — Relief of the Indigent Insane. — The Union and the States. 

— Speech on the President's Yeto.— The True Basis of American In- 
dependence. — Address before the American Institute. — Peace 291 

ORATIONS AND SPEECHES. 
The Destiny of America. — An Oration delivered at the Dedication of 
Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, September 14, 1853.— Nebraska 
and Kansas.— Freedom and Public Faith.— The Abrogation of the 
Missouri Compromise. — Speeches in the Senate of the United States, 3"25 

See Index 401 



MEMOIR- 



CHAPTER I. 

THE SEWARD FAMILY. 

The ancestors of William Henry Seward were of 
Welsh extraction. The first of that name in America em- 
igrated from Wales during the reign of Queen Ann, and set- 
tled in Connecticut. A branch of the family, from which Mr. 
Seward is descended, removed to Morris county, N. J., 
about the year 1740. This branch again divided, one por- 
tion of which removed to Virginia, where it is still found 
in considerable numbers, as well as in Georgia and Ken- 
tucky. His paternal grandfather, John Seward, resided in 
Sussex county, in that state, where he sustained a high rep- 
utation for enterprise, integrity, and ability. On the break- 
ing out of the Revolution, he became a prominent leader of 
the whig party, and on more than one occasion during the 
long struggle, was engaged in active service. His dwel- 
ling is defined on all the maps of the American col- 
onies of that period. Being a zealous partisan he be- 
came the object of especial jealousy on the part of the loy- 
alists. The following anecdote is among the traditions of 
the family. While General Washington's headquarters 
wereatMorristown, Colonel Seward's residence was on the 
lines. Various plots were resorted to by the torios to cir- 



14 THE SEWARD FAMILY. 

cum vent and capture him. One day a man of ratker sus- 
picious appearance, on a horse without saddle or bridle, 
approached the house and upon being hailed by Colonel 
Seward replied that he brought a message from General 
Washington requiring Colonel Seward to hasten to head- 
quarters. He was asked if he had a written order. His 
reply was in the negative. Colonel Seward then charged 
him with being a tory, whereupon he applied his whip to 
his horse and rode off at full speed. Colonel Seward seized 
his rifle and with unerring aim brought him to the ground. 
He lived long enough to confess that he was sent by a party 
of loyalists to decoy the colonel from his house that he 
might be waylaid and his house destroyed. He died in 
1799, leaving a family of ten children. His son, Samuel 
S. Seward, received an academic and professional educa- 
tion, instead of a share in the paternal inheritance. Hav- 
ing completed his studies, he established himself in the 
practice of medicine in his native place, and soon after be- 
came connected in marriage with Mary Jennings, the 
daughter of Isaac Jennings, of Goshen, New York. 

Removing to Florida, a village in the town of Warwick, 
in Orange county, N. Y., in the j^ear 1795, he combined a 
large mercantile business with an extensive range of pro- 
fessional practice, both of which he carried on successfully 
for the space of twenty years. He retired from active 
business in 1815, and devoted himself to the cultivation of 
the estate, of which, by constant industry and economy, he 
had become the owner. Dr. Seward was a man of more 
than common intellect, of excellent business talents, and of 
strict probity. After his withdrawal from business, he was 
in the habit of lending money to a considerable extent 
among the farmers in his neighborhood ; and it is said that 
no man was ever excused from paying the lawful interest 
on his loans — that no man was permitted to pay him more 
than that interest — and that no man who paid his interest 
punctually was ever required to pay any part of the prin- 



THE SEWARD FAMILY. 15 

cipal. He was a zealous advocate of republican principles, 
and exerted a leading influence in the affairs of the party. 
In 1804, he was elected to the legislature, and during the 
continuance of the republicans in power, he was never with- 
out one or more offices of public trust. Although not a 
member of the legal profession, he was appointed first 
judge of Orange county, in 1815, which office he held for 
seventeen years. His exercise of the judicial functions was 
marked by discretion, impartiality, and promptness, and 
lie is remembered to this day as one of the best judges the 
county ever had. After a visit to Europe, he lived in the 
eujojanent of universal respect until 1849, when he died 
in a ripe old age. Dr. Seward was the friend of religion, 
education, and public improvement. He founded the 
*' S. S. Seward Institute," at Florida, an excellent high 
school for young persons of both sexes. He endowed this 
seminary with a permanent fund of $20,000, and continued 
its steadfast friend until the close of his life. 

The wife of Dr. Seward was Mary Jennings, whose fam- 
ily had emigrated from Ireland at an early day. She was 
a woman of a clear and vigorous understanding, with sin- 
gular cheerfulness of temper, and while devoted with un- 
tiring industry to the interests of her family, was a model 
of hospitality, charity, and self-forge tfulness. She died in 
1843. 

The subject of this memoir never forgot that he had Irish 
blood in his veins. This fact serves to explain, in part, 
the strong attachment he has always cherished for the Irish 
population of our country. While travelling through Ire- 
land in 1833, his indignation was greatly aroused by the 
sight of the oppressions inflicted on the people by the Brit- 
ish government. He ascribed a large share of the miseries 
of that unhappy country to its political mismanagement, 
and especially to the annihilation of its parliament, by the 
act of union. In writing home from Ireland, he expresses 
himself in the following terms : — 



16 IRISH LINEAGE. 

"But all this glory has departed. The very shadow (and for a long time 
the Irish parliament was but the shadow) of independence has vanished ; 
Ireland has surrendered the individuality of her national existence, to share, 
like a younger sister, that of England. The walls of the parliament-house 
remain in. all their primitive grandeur, to reproach the degeneracy of her 
statesmen. While traversing its apartments, I reverted to the debate when 
the degenerate representatives surrendered their parliament; and I thought 
that had I occupied a place there, I would have seen English armies wade 
in blood over my country, before I would have assented to so disgraceful a 
union. Something might have been spared, after the deed was consum- 
mated, to the wounded pride of the Irish people. The parliament-house 
ought to have been closed, and left in gloomy solitude, a monument to re- 
mind the people that they once had a country. But this was too great a 
concession for the economy of the English administration of affairs in Ireland. 
They who build palaces and monuments with a profuse hand, on the other 
side of the channel, sold the Irish Capitol, and it was forthwith converted 
into a hall for money-changers. I confess that overleaping all the obsta- 
cles which are deemed by many well-wishers of Ireland insurmountable, 1 
wish the repeal of the union. I will riot believe that if relieved of that op- 
pressive act, she does not possess the ability to govern herself." 

In a private letter written by Mr. Seward in 1840, to a 
gentleman who had taken strong exceptions to his senti- 
ments in relation to Irishmen, the following passage occurs, 
in regard to the Irish lineage of his mother. After defend- 
ing the character of the Irish from some severe charges 
made by his correspondent, and alluding to their many 
virtues, he says : — 

"If this confession of faith seems strange to you, permit me to explain 
that I could not believe otherwise, without doing dishonor to a mother em- 
inent for many virtues, and to the memories of humble ancestors, whose 
names will not be saved from obscurity by the record of any extraordinary 
vices." 



BIRTHPLACE. 17 



CHAPTER II. 

WILLI A3I HEXRY SEWARD. 

William Henry Seward was born iu Florida, Orange 
Co., N. Y., May 16, 1801. The house in which his parents 
then resided is still standing ; but the village-church and 
schoolhouse, where his youthful, feet were wont to tread, have 
given place to more modern structures. A venerable for- 
est-tree on the ancient homestead still overshadows a clear, 
bubbling spring of water, which William w^as in the habit 
of frequenting in his school-boy days, with his books, for 
the purpose of reading and study in its cool and pleasant 
retirement. His boyhood is well remembered by the aged 
inhabitants of his native village. They love to recall their 
predictions of the future eminence of the studious lad, whose 
diligence and zeal had already attracted their attention. 
The colored servant, then a slave of his father's, who led 
him in infancy, and shared his juvenile sports, still lives to 
rejoice in the bounty of her young companion, who has given 
a comfortable home for her old age, in memory of their 
early attachment. 

The subject of our narrative entered upon life amid ex- 
ternal circumstances adapted to cherish and develop the 
higher elements of his nature. Orange county contains 
within its borders West Point, Fort Putnam, Fort Mont- 
gomery, Minisink, Newburgh, Washington's headquarters, 
and other places famous in the annals of the Revolu- 
tion. It has also been the birthplace or residence of many 
distinguished men, among whom may be named George 
Clinton, James Clinton, De Witt Clinton, Cadwallader C. 



18 SCHOOL DAYS. 

Golden, General Belknap, James Burt, Robert Armstrong, 
John Duer, Ogden Hoffman, Samuel B. Betts, Samuel J. 
Wilkin, and others. The town of Warwick originally with 
several other towns composed a part of the town of Goshen, 
having been set off from that town in 1788. It was settled 
directly or indirectly as early as 1703. A part of the town 
was called Florida or Floriday as early as 1738. The 
origin of this name is not clearly known, but it was proba- 
bly derived from the Latin word Floridus signifying cov- 
ered or red with flowers. The local scenery of Florida is 
scarcely surpassed in the country for beauty and magnifi- 
cence. On each side, mountains of impressive grandeur 
rear their blue summits into the skies, while the broad and 
fertile valleys, watered by numerous rivulets and miniature 
lakes, enriched by genial and appropriate culture, and smi- 
ling in joyous abundance, complete the majestic and lovely 
panorama. The people of Florida, unlike the inhabitants 
of most other towns in that part of the state, were origi- 
nally emigrants from New England. They were accord- 
ingly imbued with much of the stern and lofty spirit of the 
Puritans, while their descendants still retained many of 
their habits and feelings. Brought up amidst such sublime 
and ennobling scenes of nature — inheriting from a worthy 
ancestry the purest sentiments of honor and patriotism — 
imbibing, with his mother's milk, the love of truth, freedom, 
and equality — the mind of young Seward early received a 
powerful impulse toward the career of beneficent greatness, 
which has amply fulfilled the prophetic anticipations of his 
youthful associates and admirers. 

One of the first acts remembered by the friends of young 
William Henry, was in.no small degree significant of his 
juvenile tendencies. He ran away to school — most truants 
run in the opposite direction. His taste for books was dis- 
played at an early age. They were his favorite compan- 
ions, and he was seldom seen without a volume in his hands. 
His thirst for knowledge, once nearly cost him his life. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS BOYHOOD. 19 

When about t^Yelve years of age, returning near nightfall 
from a pasture on his father's farm, driving home the cows, 
he read a book as he walked, giving an occasional look to 
his charge, that was travelling quietly before him. A party 
of boys espied the abstracted herdsman, and disturbed his 
studious reveries wdth a volley of small stones. Resolved 
not to be disturbed in his reading by the missiles of his 
thoughtless companions, he turned his back toward them, 
and walked backward with liis eye intently fixed upon his 
book. In a short time, he insensibly diverged from the 
path, and missing the bridge over a small creek, was thrown 
into the water. An elder brother, who had witnessed the 
accident, drew him from the stream in a state of uncon- 
sciousness, and he was fortunately restored without serious 
injury. 

His precocious intellect, and his docile, cheerful disposi- 
tion, led his parents to decide on giving him a superior ed- 
ucation to that received by the other members of the family. 
The common school system had not yet been established 
in the state of Nev/ York, and he attended several different 
schools in the vicinity of his father's residence, until the 
age of nine years. At this period, he was sent to Farmers' 
Hall Academy, at Goshen, which then boasted of having 
had the celebrated Aaron Burr and Noah Webster among 
its pupils. The records of the " Classical Society" of 
Goshen, and of the " Goshen Club," still exist, showing 
young Seward to have been an active member of each — 
the constitutions and minutes of proceedings being mostly- 
in his handwriting. Among the principal exercises of these 
two societies, were declamation, debates, and composi- 
tions. Li nearly all the debates which are noticed, Seward 
has a part, and then as now he was generally found on the 
right side. He pursued his studies at this seminary, and 
at an academy afterward established in Florida, until the 
year 1816. He was now but fifteen years of age, when he 
was presented for admission to Union College, Schenoc- 



20 COLLEGE LIFE. 

tady. The thin, pale, sandy-visaged boy was found quali- 
fied for the junior class, but on account of his extreme 
youth was persuaded to enter the sophomore. 



CHAPTER III. 

HIS COLLEGE LIFE — VISIT TO THE SOUTH — DR. NOTT. 

The college career of young Seward, as related by his 
contemporaries, gave brilliant indication of the rare quali- 
ties for which he has since become distinguished. The 
traits of the future legislator and statesman were foreshad- 
owed in the character of the modest youth during his period 
of academic retirement. Even then he displayed the manly 
originality of conception — the sturdy independence of pur- 
pose — the firm adherence to his convictions of right — the 
intrepid assertion of high moral principles — the careful 
examination of a cause before appearing in its defence — 
the sympathy w^ith the weak and oppressed— and the in- 
tellectual vigilance and assiduity in the pursuit of truth — 
which have formed such conspicuous and admirable features 
in his public career. 

His favorite studies in college were rhetoric, moral phi- 
losophy, and the ancient classics. It was his custom to rise 
at four o'clock in the morning, and prepare all the lessons 
of the day. At night, while the other students were en- 
gaged in getting ready the exercises of the next morning, 
he devoted his leisure to general reading, and literary 
compositions for class declamation or debates in society 
meetings. 

In the year 1819, Seward, who was then in the senior 
class, and in the eighteenth year of his age, withdrew from 
college for about a year, passing six months of the time as 



VISIT TO THE SOUTH. 21 

a teacher at the south. The spectacle of slavery could not 
fail to make a deep impressiou on his mind. He witnessed 
scenes which aroused him to reflection on the subject, and 
produced the hostility to every form of oppression, which 
has since become ingrained in his character. One of the 
many incidents which occurred to him may be related in 
this place. 

While travelling in the interior of the state, he approached 
a stream spanned by a dilapidated bridge, that had become 
almost impassable. He forded the river with no little dif- 
ficulty, and met on the opposite side a negro woman with 
an old blind and worn-out horse, bearing a bag of corn to 
mill. The poor slave was in tears, and manifested great 
distress of mind. She was afraid to venture on the bridge, 
and the stream seemed too rapid and violent for the strength 
of her horse. She was reluctant to return to her master, 
without fulfilling her errand, being fearful of punishment. 
The heart of the young northerner was moved. He went 
to her assistance, and attempted to lead the horse across 
the bridge. But the wretched beast was not equal to the 
effort. He made a false step, and falling partly through, 
became wedged in among the plank and timbers. Seward 
tried in vain to extricate him. Despairing of success, he 
mounted his own horse, rode to the master's residence, and 
informed him of the accident, and attempted to excuse the 
slave. In return for his kindness, he was met with a vol- 
ley of imprecations on himself, the slave, the horse, the 
bridge, and all parties and things concerned. His disgust 
at this adventure taught him a lesson of wisdom, which he 
never forgot.* 

* Another incident is related in one of his speeches as having occurred 
during a subsequent visit to the south, and he has been heard to remark 
that it contains the whole story of slavery : "Resting one day at an inn in 
Virginia, I saw a woman blind and decrepit with age, turning the ponder- 
ous wheel of a machine on the lawn, and overheard this conversation be- 
tween her and my fellow-traveller: 'Is not that very hard work?' — '"Why 
yes, mistress, but I must do something, and this is all I can do now I am so 



22 COLLEGE INCIDENTS. 

Returning to college in 1820, he found the students in a 
state of great excitement. They had hitherto been divided 
into two literary societies, the Philomathean and the Adel- 
phic, between which an earnest, but not unfriendly rivalry 
subsisted. The former was the most popular with the stu- 
dents, while the latter claimed the most diligent scholars. 
Young Seward w^as a member of the Adelphic, and entered 
into the interests of the society with characteristic zeal. 
During his absence, some twenty or thirty students from 
the southern states had left Princeton college and entered 
Union. These attached themselves to the Philomathean 
society, giving it a great superiority in numbers over its 
rival. Questions soon arose in the society, on which the 
members divided geographically. The southern students 
were left in a minority, and obtaining a charter from the 
college faculty, organized a third society called the Del- 
pliian institute. Their secession weakened the Philoma- 
thean, and was generally regarded by the older members 
of the rival society as a triumph on their side. The young- 
er Adelphics, however, took a diflferent view, favoring the 
Philomatheans, on the ground that the secession was fac- 
tious and sectional. Seward, whose experience at the south, 
and popularity with all classes in college, served to qualify 
him for the ofi&ce, virtually became umpire between the two 
parties. After an impartial hearing of the question, he de- 
cided in favor of the Philomatheans, and against the Del- 
phian institute — thus siding with the sophomores and fresh- 
men, in opposition to the views of his own classmates. He 
thereby incurred no small odium. The faction, which he 

old.' — 'How old are you?' — 'I don't know; past sixty tliey tell nie.' — 
'Have you a husband?' — 'I don't know, mistress.'— 'Have you ever had a 
husband?' — 'Yes, I was married.' — 'Whei*e is your husband?' — 'I don't 
know; he was sold.' — 'Have you children?' — 'I don't know; they were 
sold.'— 'How many?' — 'Six.' — 'Have you never heard from any of them 
since they were sold?' — 'No, mistress.' — 'Do you not find it hard to bear 
up under such afilictions as these?' — 'Why yes, mistress, but God does 
what he thinks best with us.' " 



COLLEGE TRIUMPHS. 28 

had condemned, caused him to be arraigned, with a view 
to his expulsion from the Adelphic society. The members 
resolved themselves into a court, while a prominent mem- 
ber of his own class acted as public prosecutor. Seward 
conducted his own defence. After the testimony was com- 
pleted, he summed up the merits of the case, closing a pow- 
erful argument with a thrilling recital of his course through- 
out the controversy. Declaring that he was indifferent to 
what might be said of him by the public prosecutor — that 
he had no wish to know who voted for and who against him 
— and that he would not embarrass the vote of any mem- 
ber by his presence, or by inquiry about his vote at any 
time afterward — he abruptly left the chamber in which the 
trial was held. In half an hour, the rush of students from 
the hall showed that the case was decided. Soon his room 
was crowded with sophomores and freshmen, ardent with 
victory, and loud in congratulations that the prosecution 
had been voted down. The cause of law and order was 
sustained against the seceders, and the integrity of the 
union in Union college fully vindicated. 

There was still another trial in college for the young 
student. Three commencement orators were to be appoint- 
ed by the Adelphic society. This appointment was deemed 
the highest college honor. Seward was a prominent can- 
didate. His scholarship, his eloquence, and his character, 
presented equally strong claims in his favor. But the hos- 
tile faction among the friends of the Delphian institute, es- 
tablished a vigorous opposition. An earnest canvass was 
maintained for several weeks. No pains were spared to 
defeat the election of Seward. The choice was at length 
made, and he gained a decided triumph. The subject of 
his oration was, " The Integrity of the American Union." 
This was a chaste and manly performance, replete with 
vigorous sense and patriotic feeling. It was listened to 
with enthusiasm by an intelligent audience, and called forth 
warm commendations in the pubUc prints. 



24 GOVERNOR TOMPKINS DR. NOTT. 

Seward graduated among the most distinguished scholars 
in his class. He shared his academic honors with several, 
who have since arisen to eminence in different walks of 
literature and public life. Of these, we need only mention 
the names of Hon. William Kent, who inherits the legal 
mind and rare attainments of his father, the celebrated 
chancellor ; Rev. Dr. Hickok, now vice-president of Union 
college, and as an erudite and profound metaphysician, 
without an equal among American scholars i and Rev. 
Tayler Lewis, professor of Greek in Union college, distin- 
guished no less as an adroit and energetic controversialist, 
than as a classical scholar of consummate accomplishments. 

An incident, showing his standing in the college, and his 
early development of talent, was thus described by a public 
journal, many years since : — 

"The year 1820 was, as our readers will remember, the epoch of the great 
contest between Tompkins and Clinton, The interest excited by this strug- 
gle pervaded all classes and ages of the community, and it was not in the 
glowing temperament of William H. Seward to remain neutral. He was 
naturally from his education and early association, on the side of Tompkins, 
and his zeal was quickened by personal intercourse with this amiable and 
fascinating man, with whom to have an interview with an individual was 
to acquire and fix a friend. Seward was appointed to address the vice- 
president on his visit to Schenectady on behalf of the young republicans of 
the college. His speech was so much above the common run of political 
harangues, as to excite general and lasting interest. He lived in the re- 
membrance of Daniel D. Tompkins, until he himself ceased to live; and his 
friends will recollect the fervent kindness with which he was wont to recur 
to this eloquent and generous effort of his youthful champion." 

The relations of young Seward with Dr. Nott, the vener- 
able and excellent president of Union college, were inti-^ 
mate and cordial, throughout his academic course, and have 
continued to be of affectionate confidence to the present 
time. It is believed that Mr. Seward has seldom acted on 
any important public question, without availing himself of 
the experience and sagacity of his venerated friend, whose 
counsels, we need not say, have always been on the side of 
nobleness and humanity. . Nor, we may add, has Mr. Sew- 



REMOVAL TO AUBURN. 25 

ard failed to preserve the attachment of his early friends. 
The companions of his school and college days, as well as 
those of his professional life, have ever been amoirg his 
foremost supporters, as a public man. And he never for- 
sakes a friend or a cause, that he has once espoused. No 
reproach can shake his fidelity to objects, of whose worth 
he has become persuaded. 



CHAPTER IV. 



LAW STUDIES REMOVAL TO AUBURN FAMILY — RELIGIOUS 

PRINCIPLES CHARACTER AS A LAWYER. 

Soon after taking his degree at Union college, Mr. Sew- 
ard entered the office of John Anthon, Esq., of the city of 
New York, as a student at law. He carried the habits of 
early rising and faithful application, which he had main- 
tained during his college life, into his professional studies. 
He thoroughly mastered every elementary book which was 
put into his hands, making a written analysis of its con- 
tents. Completing his legal preparation with John Duer 
and Ogden Hoffman, Esquires, in Goshen, N. Y., he was 
admitted to the bar of the supreme court at Utica in 1822. 
For six months previous to his admission he had been asso- 
ciated in practice with Mr. Hoffman. • 

In January, 1823, Mr. Seward took up his residence in 
Auburn, and formed a connection in business with the Hon. 
Elijah Miller, a distinguished member of the legal profes- 
sion, and at that time first judge of Cayuga county. Judge 
Miller, who had acquired a competency in a large and suc- 
cessful practice, was desirous of retiring from active pro- 
fessional pursuits, and discovering signs of great promise in 
young Seward, took him into his confidence, and proved 
a devoted and efficient friend. 

2 



26 RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES. 

Mr. Seward, in 1824, married his youngest daughter, 
Frances Adeline Miller. As this lady is still living, we 
can only say that the connection has been a singularly for- 
tunate one in all respects. Four children compose their 
family ; Augustus, a lieutenant in the United States army, 
and devoted to its scientific pursuits, Frederick, who has 
chosen the editorial profession, and a boy and girl yet in 
childhood. One daughter, " fondly loved," was therefore, 
perhaps, " early lost." 

The town of Auburn, which Mr. Seward selected as a 
residence, is in the heart of one of the most fertile and de- 
lightful regions in central New York. Its growth has been 
rapid and healthful. Within a few years the primeval for- 
est has given place to a populous city. Its inhabitants are 
distinguished for their intelligence, enterprise, and refine- 
ment. Free from the pride of wealth and the pretensions 
of aristocracy, they present an attractive example of genu- 
ine republican equality. In some degree these character- 
istics are no doubt due to the influence of Mr. Seward and 
his estimable family. During a residence of more than 
thirty years, he has won the unqualified respect and confi- 
dence of his townsmen. Moving in the highest circles of 
society, he has never avoided friendly intercourse with the 
most obscure and lowly. The patron of struggling merit 
— cherishing a deep interest in all social and philanthropic 
movements — watchful to aid the unfortunate and forsaken 
— *«.nd ever ready to devote his time, his talents, and his 
pecuniary means, to the defence of the wronged and op- 
pressed of every caste and color ^ he has gained the lasting 
gratitude and love of the people with whom, for over a 
quarter of a century, he has lived as a neighbor and fellow- ' 
citizen. 

Although free from all taint of sectarianism, Mr. Seward 
cherishes a strong attachment to the protestant episcopal 
church, of which he became a member in 1837. He has 
been frequently called to attend ecclesiastical conventions 



CHARACTER AS A LAWYER. 27 

of tliat body. At the anniversary of the American Bible 
Society in 1839, he was called to act as one of the vice- 
presidents, and in his address on that occasion he expresses 
the following sentiment in regard to the Bible : — 

"I know not how long a republican government can flourish among a 
great people who have not the Bible; the experiment has never been tried: 
but this I do know that the existing government of this country never could 
liave had existence but for the Bible. And further I do in my conscience 
believe that if at every decade of years a copy of the Bible could be found 
in every family of the land its republican institutions would be perpetual.'* 

With his devotion to the cause of public improvement, he 
has been the patron of churches, schools, and benevolent in- 
stitutions, liberally contributing his money for their support, 
and his counsels for tlieir direction. 

After establishing himself in Auburn, Mr. Seward be- 
came interested in the military affairs of the neighborhood, 
and was soon honored with various military offices. Ac- 
cepting the colonelcy of a regiment, he acquired wide dis- 
tinction and still higher promotion by his zeal and discipline. 
"Without personal military ambition, he was an ardent friend 
of a well-regulated militia system for the preservation of 
order and the defence of the country. He was an excellent 
tactician, and an accomplished commander, while his win- 
ning qualities as a man secured the friendship of all around 
him, who were engaged in the same department of public 
service. 

From the commencement of his practice as a lawyer, Mr. 
Seward was always in the habit of arguing his own cases, 
instead of employing older counsellors, as is often done by 
young advocates. In the management of a case he sparingly 
refers to the authority of recorded decisions, but stating the 
general principles of law applicable to the question, and ar- 
ranging the facts in the simplest order, enforces his argu- 
ments by a priori reasonings, and shows the basis of his 
position in natural equity. As a professional rule, he gives 
his aid to a weaker party against a stronger, even without 
compensation, whether his client be right or wrong ; but if 



28 EARLY PROFESSIONAL LIFE. 

a stronger party claims his services against a weaker, he 
does not engage in the suit without a clear conviction of 
its justice, whatever be the compensation. During the 
whole course of his practice he has never been known to 
act for a man against a woman ; and was never but once 
engaged in a cause against the accused ; and that was 
an instance of extreme outrage by a man upon a young 
woman. 

The legal career of Mr. Seward is illustrated with no 
less justice than vigor in the following sketch of his early 
professional life, written several years since for one of the 
periodicals of the day : — 

"The practice of the law in the country must not be estimated by the 
practice in the city. Each has its own advantages and difficulties; it is the 
peculiarity of the former, that it at once brings to the test, and to the pub- 
lie view, the intrinsic qualities of the man. The crowded bar, the long-de- 
ferred opportunity, the deference to age and experience, the overshadowing 
reputation of the seniors of the profession, and the innumerable natural or 
conventional impediments, which so long keep back, and so often depress 
the young aspirant with us, are felt in a very mitigated degree in the interior. 
The candidate for distinction is there summoned at onee to the arena: 
^ naked steel is around him ;^ he is thrown upon his own talents, energies, 
and resources, and he stands and falls as in his native and unaided strength. 
To have stood this trial successfully, and, after eleven years of arduous 
labors, to have risen to the very foremost rank of his profession, as did 
Mr, Seward, is in itself an unerring indication of the high character of the 
object of these remarks. In all our courts, and in causes of every descrip- 
tion, his talents have been exercised and admired. He has stood forward 
and distinguished himself with such men as John C, Spencer, Joshua A. 
Spencer, Albert H. Tracy, and their contemporaries of the "West, for whom 
competition, if not pre-eminence, may be challenged with the Athletes of 
the bar in any other section of the state or of the country. Property, 
liberty, and life, have been committed to the integrity and ability of 'this 
young man of tliirty. three,' and he has never faltered in his trust, nor 
failed in an emergency, nor left unfulfilled an expectation," 

His most formidable competitors at the Auburn bar, 
during the commencement of his practice, were Hon. John 
M. Hulbert and William Brown, Esqs. Both these distin- 
guished men were accomplished scholars, erudite jurists, 
and powerful advocates. At this time they were in the 



POLITICAL SYMPATHIES. 29 

dazzling flush of professional success. The brilliancy of 
their fame threw most of their rivals into the shade. Many 
excellent members of the bar had been deterred by their 
eminence from attempting to vie with them in the courts. 
But upon a man like Mr. Seward, their influence was of a 
contrary nature. Their intellectual predominance only 
aroused his emulation ; nor did he suffer by the comparison. 
Possessing a native independence of mind, he was early 
accustomed to original thought. This habit was strength- 
ened by severe discipline. Attaching a due value to the 
suggestions of others, he still relied upon himself. Con- 
nected with this trait of character, was a rigid habit of 
industry ; he studied while others slept. The time which 
most men give to recreation he devoted to strenuous toil. 
With' such qualifications, Mr. Seward soon entered upon an 
extensive and successful practice. His fame grew with his 
years, until he fills a sphere which is surpassed in brilliancy 
and importance by that of few of his contemporaries, incon- 
testably ranking with the first lawyers of the Union 



CHAPTER Y. 



POLITICS — SLAVERY YOUNG MEX'S CONVENTION ANTI- 
MASONRY STATE SENATOR. 

The attention of Mr. Seward was early drawn to politi- 
cal affairs. His father was an ardent champion of the 
Jeffersonian democracy. The traditionary instincts and 
early prepossessions of the son were strongly in favor of 
the same principles. Mr. Seward, accordingly, sympa- 
thized with the democratic party, believing that it embod- 
ied the spirit of popular freedom to a greater extent than 
any other party of the day. He was early undeceived 
by experience. Discovering that, under the pretence of 



80 VIEWS OF SLAVERY. 

democracy, the leaders of the party were bent on personal 
interests, irrespective of the rights of humanity and the 
public good, he left them at once and for ever. He has 
attached but -slight importance to mere party names. The 
diffusion of genuine republican sentiments among the peo- 
ple, and tlieir practical realization in the institutions and 
laws of his country, have been the leading objects of his 
political life. 

Mr. Seward first had occasion to express his convictions 
on the subject of slavery during the protracted struggle on 
the admission of Missouri into the Union. He perceived, 
at that early period, the subserviency to southern influence 
and dictation which prevailed in the democratic party in 
the state of New York. From that day to the present, his 
life has been devoted to the principles of liberty. In his 
view, freedom is national, and slavery sectional. With 
him the purpose of the Union is to establish the blessings 
of equality, justice, and humanity ; not to enlarge the area 
of bondage and oppression. His hostility to slavery has 
not been the result of policy, but of principle — of the 
strongest conviction of its inherent injustice, and its ten- 
dency to corrupt and destroy the noblest institutions of the 
country. His rule of action on the subject has been uni- 
form from the commencement of his political career. He 
has never suffered the fear of consequences to silence his 
voice in defence of freedom, when any practical benefit 
was at stake ; but he has strictly avoided every act that 
was adapted to inflict a needless wound upon an opponent, 
or to foment an unprofital)le excitement. 

In his measures with regard to slavery, Mr. Seward has 
been no fanatic. Detesting the institution, he has waged 
against it an honorable warfare. But he has refrained, 
with scrupulous care, from infringing on the constitutional 
rights of slaveholders, or depriving them of any privilege 
to which they are entitled by law. This is the extent of 
his concessions. He refuses to accord any advantage be- 



THE ALBANY REGENCY. 31 

yond legal enactment to an institution wliicli violates the 
first principles of natural right. 

His position on this subject was clearly defined in his 
California speech.* 

"I feel assured that slavery must give way, and will give way, to the sal- 
utary instructions of economy, and to the ripening influences of humanity ; 
that emancipation is inevitable, and is near; that it may be hastened or 
hindered ; and that whether it be peaceful or violent depends upon the 
question whether it be hastened or hindered ; that all measures which fortify 
slavery or extend it, tend to the consummation of violence; all that cheek 
its extension and abate its strength, tend to its peaceful extirpation. But 
I will adopt none but lawful, constitutional, and peaceful means, to secure 
even that end ; and none such can I or will I forego. JSTor do I know any 
impoi'tant or responsible political body that proposes to do more than this. 
No free state claims to extend its legislation into a slave state. None claims 
that Congress shall usurp power to abolish slavery in the slave states. - None 
claims that any violent, unconstitutional, or unlawful measure shall be em- 
braced. And on the other hand, if we offer no scheme or plan for the 
adoption of the slave states, with the assent and co-operation of Congress, it 
is only because the slave states are unwilling as yet to receive such sugges- 
tions, or even to entertain the question of emancipation in any form." 

Mr. Seward's first public action of a political character 
was in 1824. In October of that year, he drew up the 
address of the republican convention of Cayuga county to 
the people. t In this document, he gave a brief history of 
the origin and designs of the Albany regency — a clique of 
political leaders, which once exerted a great and most in- 
jurious influence in the state of New York. He exposed 
its system of machinery — its opposition to the electoral 
law, placing the appointment of presidential electors in the 
hands of the people, although solemnly pledged to its sup- 
port — and its intrigues to prevent the election of John 
Quincy Adams to the presidency, and to secure the ultimate 
^election of Martin Van Buren. The opposition to the Al- 
t3any regency, thus boldly commenced by the young politi- 
cian, was finally crowned with complete success. The 
sources of its influence were destroyed, and the power, 



*Se 



e "Works of William 11. Seward," Vol. I., p. 51. f See Vol. III., p. 335. 



32 ORATIONS AND SPEECHES. 

which had been centralized in its organization, was restored 
to the possession of the people. 

On the 4th of July, 1825, Mr. Seward delivered an an- 
niversary oration at Auburn.* The Missouri Compromise 
and the Tariff of 1824 had recently elicited threats of nul- 
lification at the south. In this oration, Mr. Seward took 
the same position on several important political questions, 
which he has maintained to the present day. He argued 
the capacity of the government for the extension of empire, 
asserting the perpetuity of the Union on the same grounds 
that have been advanced in his later productions. An- 
nouncing his devotion to the great principles of emancipa- 
tion, he insisted that the United States should be a " city of 
refuge" for the oppressed and down-trodden of every nation. 

In 1826 and 1827, the Greek revolution awakened a gen- 
eral sympathy in the United States. A meeting of citizens 
of Auburn was held in February, 1827, for the purpose of 
rendering aid to the struggling Greeks. Mr. Seward was 
invited to deliver a speech on this occasion. f The subject 
was congenial to his feelings, and he gladly consented to 
the request. With characteristic eloquence, he defended 
the cause of liberty in other lands — asserting its claims on 
American sympathy, in the same line of argument which he 
afterward reproduced in behalf of Ireland and Hungary. 
His vigorous and glowing appeal was met by the people to 
whom it was addressed with a munificent liberality which 
was elsewhere without a parallel. 

In July, 1828, Mr. Seward was invited by the members 
of the Adelphic society of Union college, to deliver a eulo- 
gy on David Berdan,f a member of the society, who died on 
his passage from London to Boston, July 20, 1827. It was 
a sincere and eloquent tribute to the memory of an esteemed^ 
companion and friend. The monument erected to young 
Eerdan, still forms an interesting ol)ject to those who visit 
the college grounds at Schenectady. 

* See Vol. III., p 193. f See Vol. III., p. 191. X See Vol. Ill,, p. 117. 



NOMINATION FOR CONGRESS. 38 

The year 1828 is distinguished as the period when the 
young men of our country first made an effort to exert a 
personal influence on national politics. A convention of 
the young men of New York in favor of the re-election of 
John Quincy Adams to the presidency was held at Utica, 
on the 12th of August. It was one of the largest political 
conventions ever assembled in the Empire state. Four 
hundred delegates, in the flower and freshness of youth, 
were present at the session, w^hich continued for several 
days. Mr. Seward was called to preside over its delibera- 
tions. He fulfilled the duties of the office with marked 
ability. Though only twenty-seven years of age, he exhib- 
ited a dignity, decision, and courtesy, which would have 
done honor to an experienced statesman. He left a singu- 
larly favorable impression on the minds of his colleagues, 
who, with scarcely an exception, have adhered to the polit- 
ical principles of that convention, until the present time. 
Many of the most prominent men in New York date tlieir 
interest in politics from the young men's state convention, 
and have since exerted an influence which led to a decisive 
change in the policy and relation of parties in the state. 

The election of General Jackson to the presidency in 
1828 dissolved the national republican party in Western 
New York, with which Mr. Seward, as an ardent supporter 
of John Quincy Adams, had been identified. Meantime, 
the anti-masonic party had risen into consequence, and 
thouirh of local origin, and acting in a limited field, for sev- 
eral years, it formed the only opposition in Western New 
York to the Albany regency and the Jackson administra- 
tion. In 1828, this party tendered a nomination as mem- 
ber of Congress to Mr. Seward, which he declined, on ac- 
count of the obligation that he felt to support the national 
republican party. On the overthrow of the latter party, 
Mr. Seward and his friends, sympathizing with the citizens 
who were engaged in vindicating the supremacy of the laws, 
naturally united with the anti-masons, as affording the best 

2* 



84 ELECTION TO THE STATE SENATE. 

position for a successful resistance of the national and state 
administrations. Among his political associates at that 
time, were Frederic Whittlesey, Thurlow Weed, Francis 
Granger, John C. Spencer, Millard Fillmore, and other dis- 
tinguished public men of the present day. 

In 1830, Mr. Seward was nominated by the an ti masonic 
party as a candidate for the state senate, from the seventh 
district, comprising, at that time, the counties of Onondaga, 
Cayuga, Cortland, Seneca, Ontario, Wayne, and Yates. 
The nomination was unexpected, but he did not feel at lib- 
erty to decline it. Although the district had given a large 
Jackson majority the preceding year, and the anti-masonic 
candidate for governor, Francis Granger, was defeated, at 
the same election, by a majority of eight thousand, Mr. 
Seward was elected to the senate by the handsome majority 
of two thousand votes. In Cayuga county, where he re- 
sided, the democratic party had long enjoyed a decided as- 
cendency, but still a majority of the senatorial votes were 
cast for Mr. Seward. 



CHAPTER VI. 

STATE SENATOR — THE ALBANY EEGENCY CANALS — BANKS 

MILITIA — UNITED STATES BANK PRISONS — CORPORATIONS. 

Mr. Seward took his seat in the state senate, in January, 
1831. This was his first election to civil office. He had 
always regarded the career of a statesman, as affording 
scope for the accomplishment of noble deeds in behalf of 
freedom and humanity. Hence, he cheerfully exchanged 
the routine of legal practice for the functions of the legisla- 
tor. He was, probably, the youngest member that ever 
entered the New York senate, having not yet completed 
his twenty-ninth year. In spite of his youth, he soon at- 



COURSE IN THE SENATE. 35 

tainecl an honorable distinction among his colleagues. With 
an almost juvenile ardor of temperament, inspired with a 
generous ambition, cherishing the deepest sentiments of pa- 
triotism and philanthropy, a champion of liberty and popu- 
lar rights, despising the vulgar arts of hackneyed politicians, 
and filled with an enthusiastic faith in the ultimate triumph 
of truth and justice — Mr. Seward came into the senate of 
his native state, a new man, fresh from the living masses 
of the people, and breathed over that body a spirit of vital- 
ity and progress, of vv^iich the influence remains to the pres- 
ent day. His course at once assumed the character of 
boldness and originality which it still sustains. It was not 
shaped in accordance with traditional prescriptions, but 
following the impulses of an inventive mind, sought to de- 
velop new measures of public good, and larger enfranchise- 
ments for the people. 

The circumstances, however, under which Mr. Seward 
entered the senate were adapted to discourage an ingenu- 
ous and earnest spirit. The Jackson party were in posses- 
sion of unlimited sway. Wielding the vast patronage of 
the federal and state governments, their influence was as 
extensive as it Avas pernicious. The Albany regency, knit 
into a unit by the passion for ofi&ce and its attending emol- 
uments, ruled the state with an iron rod. With the ap- 
pointing power, to a great degree, in their hands — control- 
ling the currency by their connection with the banks — 
retaining well-disciplined emissaries in every county and 
town to carry their plans into effect — this central junta 
had but to touch the springs at Albany, to produce any de- 
sired movement in the remotest corner of the state. A 
large majority of the legislature were the supple tools of 
the regency, ready to enact such measures as miglit be 
deemed necessary to maintain the preponderance already 
secured. 

Mr. Seward threw himself fearlessly into the opposition. 
He soon ]:)ecame its acknowledged leader. Among the 



36 EARLY EFFORTS FOR REFORMS. 

debates in which he took a prominent part, were those re- 
lating to internal improvements and universal education. 
He labored strenuously in behalf of the common school sys- 
tem. He urged the abolition of imprisonment for debt, the 
melioration of prison discipline, and the establishment of a 
separate penitentiary for female convicts. ,The construc- 
tion of the Chenango canal received his efficient support. 
He opposed the transfer of the salt duties from the canal 
fund to the general fund, but voted for their reduction. 
He sustained the bill for making the stockholders in com- 
mercial companies personally liable, but not in manufactur- 
ing companies. He opposed increasing the salaries of the 
higher judicial of&cers, and introduced important amend- 
ments of the law in relation to surrogates. But few bank 
charters obtained his vote. Governor Marcy's great loan 
law* met with his vehement opposition. He made a pow- 
erful speech against executive interference with the United 
States bank, and against the removal of the deposites ;f 
while he supported General Jackson's measure in regard 
to southern nullification. Mr. Seward Avas one of the ear- 
liest friends of the New York and Erie railroad ; J lending 
it his aid in all its vicissitudes, until it was at length 
brought to a triumphant completion. 

Mr. Seward's first parliamentary effort was his speech 
on the militia bill,§ delivered on the 7th of February, 1831. 
In this speech, he proposed a thorough revision of the mili- 
tia system, substituting volunteer uniformed companies for 
the general performance of military duty. His views were 
characterized by the far-reaching wisdom, the lively sense 
of the progressive wants of the age, wdiich have often placed 
him in advance of his compeers, as an advocate of benefi- 
cent reforms. At first his suggestions failed to command 
assent ; but they awakened discussion ; and nearly twenty 
years afterward were adopted in substance. 

« See Vol. L, p. 37. f See Vol. L, p. 14. 

X See Vol. III., p. 306. § See Vol. I., p. 1, also p. 307 of this yolnine. 



REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES. . 87 

In March of tlio same 3^ar, a bill was introduced author- 
izing an appropriation to i3ollcct materials for a colonial 
history of New York. It was supported by Mr. Seward 
in a brief but earnest speech. He maintained that the offi- 
cial documents, relating to the early history of the state, 
contained in the archives of several European governments, 
especially of Great Britain, Holland, and France, should 
be collected by competent agents and embodied in a colo- 
nial history. His plan was adopted, and subsequently car- 
ried into effect during his administration as governor. The 
result was the publication of four large volumes of the Docu- 
mentary History of New York, which appeared during the 
administration of his successors, Governors Fish and Hunt. 

The next important speech of Mr. Seward was on the 
election of mayor of the city of New York.* This was de- 
livered on the 23d of April. Under the first constitution 
the mayors and recorders of cities were chosen by the 
council of appointinent at Albany. Under the new consti- 
tution of 1821, mayors were chosen by the common council, 
and' recorders were appointed by the governor and senate. 
The new charter of New York gave the mayor a veto on 
the acts of the common council. A petition was presented 
to the legislatui'S by the citizens for a change in the consti- 
tution, giving the election of mayor directly to the people. 
This was opposed by the dominant party. They brought 
in a resolution providing that mayors should be chosen in 
such manner as the legislature should direct. Mr. Seward 
took decided ground in favor of the New York petition. 
Arguing on the merits of the question, he contended that 
not only in New York, but in all cities, the mayors should 
be chosen by the people. This was in accordance with his 
democratic principles, which have always led him to claim 
the largest extent of privilege for the people. His views 
were finally adopted in the legislature of the state. 

During the same session he materially aided the bill for 

* See Vol. L, p. 10. 



38 THE UNITED STATES BANK. 

the abolition of imprisonment for debt, wliicli at length 
passed ; while the measure was fully completed, as will be 
seen in the sequel, under his subsequent administration. 

At the close of the session Mr. Seward was appointed to 
draw up the address to the people of the minority of the 
legislature. In this address* he reviewed the financial 
condition of the state, and exposed the mismanagement of 
the treasury. He showed the radical defects of the safety 
fund system, which under. partisan control gave the govern- 
ment of the state to*" the Albany regency. This monopoly 
was overthrown by the whigs on their accession to power 
in 1837, and the freedom of banking, under suitable safe- 
guards, permitted to all citizens. The controversy between 
New York and New Jersey was at that time a source of 
much excitement. The address exposed the conduct of the 
executive, showing that it amounted to virtual nullification. 

On the 4th of July, 1831, Mr. Seward deliverect an anni- 
versary orationf before the citizens of Syracuse. He took 
for his subject. The Prospects of the United States. In a 
strain of masculine eloquence, he defended the American 
people against the charge of national vanity and presump- 
tion, and uttered a stirring appeal for the cultivation of 
public virtue and the spirit of devotion to the Union. 

The meeting of the legislature in 1832 again found Mr. 
Seward at his post. He entered, with his habitual zeal, 
upon the great questions which then agitated the public 
mind. Relying upon the soundness of his principles, he 
boldly maintained the conflict against a majority so over- 
whelming, that, to a less ardent temperament than his own, 
opposition would have seemed hopeless. 

A resolution was brought into the senate, at the com- 
mencement of the session, against renewing the charter of 
the United States bank. Soon after, a substitute was pro- 
posed, declaring the necessity of a national bank for the 
collection of the public revenue, and the preservation of a 

* See Vol. TIT., p. S8S. f See Vol. TTT.. p. 200. 



PHILAXTHROPIC EFFORTS. 39 

sound and uniform currency. On the 31st of January, ^Ir. 
Seward delivered a speech in support of the proposed sul)- 
stitute. This was his first elaborate effort in the legisla- 
ture. Having given a minute history of the United States, 
he discussed the fiscal system of the government, and 
exposed the fallacy of Gen. Jackson's objections to the 
renewal of the bank charter. His line of argument was 
substantially the same as that pursued by Mr. Clay and Mr. 
Webster in the United States senate. His speech produced 
a marked sensation throughout the country. The question 
was new and exciting ; it took strong hold of public feel- 
ing, and great satisfaction was expressed by the opponents 
of the federal administration on the appearance of this 
powerful appeal in its favor. Combined with the discus- 
sions on internal improvements and state banks, the speech 
of Mr. Seward and that of Mr. Maynard, on the same sub- 
ject, had the effect of concentrating the opposition to the 
Albany regency and Jackson's administration, in an organ- 
ized system. This was the origin of the political body which 
two years afterward, took the name of the Whig Party. 

On the 20th of March, the question came up on the 
establishment of a separate penitentiary for female convicts. 
In his speech on this subject, Mr. Seward took the broad- 
est grounds of Christian philanthropy. He argued that 
the imprisonment of women in penitentiaries adapted only 
to the other sex, and under the exclusive management of 
men, was inhuman, and at war with the benevolent spirit 
of the age. He showed the benefits which the convicts 
would derive from the kind and judicious care of persons 
of their own sex. The prison, he maintained, should be 
made a house of refuge, rather than a place of punishment, 
where its unfortunate inmates might find protection from 
the wrongs they had received, in most cases at the hands 
of men ; where they might receive instruction and griid- 
ance — be inspired with new hopes, and prepared to return 
to society with the prospect of honor and happiness. The 



40 PRESIDEXTIAL ELECTION OF 1832. 

measure, which was carried, owed its success to the exer- 
tions of Mr. Seward, greatly aided, however, by the efficient 
co-operation of Mr. M'Donald of Westchester county. 

In a speech during this session on granting a charter to 
a whaling company, Mr. Seward made a vigorous attack on 
the tendency of legislation to corporate monopolies for 
banking, canals, railroads, and similar purposes. His 
efforts were not supported, and for a time proved unavail- 
ing. But the good seed has since ripened. The present 
system of opening every branch of business to voluntary 
association, without legislative interference, is the fruit of 
the principles he then maintained, and is an ample vindica- 
tion of their soundness and utility. 

At the close of the session of 1832, Mr. Seward was 
again appointed to prepare the address of the minority of 
the legislature to their constituents. In this document he 
resumed the discussion of the fiscal affairs of the state, 
showing the abuses of the administration in management 
of the public funds for political purposes, exposing the mis- 
conduct of the legislature in the incorporation of banking 
monopolies, and predicting the ruin of the banks from the 
policy pursued. His prophecy was in due time fulfilled. 



CHAPTER YII. 



STATE SENATOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION VISIT TO EU- 
ROPE RETURN TO THE SENATE REMOVAL OF DEPOS- 

ITES COURT OF ERRORS LAFAYETTE. 

In the presidential campaign of 1832, Mr. Seward gave 
his support to the electors who were to vote for either Mr. 
Wirt or Mr. Clay as their vote should prove effective. 
He has since repeatedly supported Mr. Clay as a candidate 
for the presidency, although it is known that he always 



VISIT TO EUROPE. 41 

foresaw his defeat, and it is therefore questionable whether 
that eminent statesman was ever his first choice. 

At the legislative session f^r this year, Mr. Seward took 
a still more prominent share in the proceedings of the sen- 
ate. The nomination of Mr. Tallmadge, then a member 
of the senate, to the office of United States senator, called 
forth the discussion of an important constitutional question. 
A clause in the state constitution prohibited any member 
of the legislature from recei^-ing office at the hands of that 
body, during the term for which he was elected. The 
attorney-general, to whom the question of eligibility had 
been submitted, decided in favor of Mr. Tallmadge. This 
decision was controverted by Mr. Seward in a speech of 
remarkable power of logic and eloquence. He was over- 
ruled by a strictly party vote ; but one can hardly read his 
speech without being convinced that the appointment, made 
for temporary political purposes, was a violation of the 
constitution. 

The nullification movements in the South were brought 
before the attention of the senate in February, 1833. On 
the 16th of that month, Mr. Seward introduced a series of 
resolutions, maintaining that Congress should be governed 
by a strict construction of the powers intrusted to the 
general government. In his speech sustaining the reso- 
lutions, he rebuked the democratic party in the state for 
their disposition to tamper with the principles of nullifi- 
cation, while professing to support Gen. Jackson's meas- 
ures, which threatened the nullifiers with the penalty of 
treason. 

During this session, Mr. Seward took part in the discus- 
sions on the navigation of the Hudson, and on the increase 
of judicial salaries. 

On the 1st of June, 1833, Mr. Seward sailed for Europe 
in company with his father. They made a rapid tour 
through parts of the United Kingdom, Holland, Germany, 
Switzerland, Sardinia, and France. During his absence he 



42 LETTERS FROM EUROPE. 

wrote home a series of letters,* describing the countries 
that he visited, which were afterward published anon}^- 
mously in the Albany Evening Journal. After about forty 
of the series had appeared, their publication was arrested, 
under circumstances which can not, perhaps, be better 
explained than by inserting the following extract from the 
Journal of that date : — 

"Letters from Europe. — In rep^y to numerous inquiries for these letters, 
it is proper to say that their publication was arrested by the 'veto' of the 
gentleman who wrote them. It is ah'eady known to some of our readers 
that the author of these letters is the whig candidate for governor. They 
were hastily written to several of his intimate friends, while making a tour 
upon the continent. On his return, the friends of Mr. Seward earnestly 
desired the publication of these letters in a more durable form, but this 
was declined. After much importunity, however, he yielded a reluctant 
consent to their anonymous publication in the 'Evening Journal.' The 
series, thus commenced, were continued, contributing to the interest of our 
readers, and adding new names to our subscription, until the whig state 
convention placed their author in a new relation to the public; when, nn- 
willing, we suppose, to superadd to other offences the heinous one of wri- 
ting 'Letters from Europe,' he desired us to suspend their publication. 

"From this decision of the author, our readers have appealed to the edi- 
tor. Having read a portion of these letters, they insist upon the publica- 
tion of the entire series. They do not, nor can we discover, in the whig 
nomination for governor, a sufficient reason for cutting off this source of 
interest and instruction. And besides, the assent of the author to the publi- 
cation of the whole series, having been obtained before his nomination for 
governor, we insist that he has not now the right to revoke it, 

"Under these circumstances, and at the general solicitation of our read- 
ei's, we take the responsibility of resuming the publication of our 'Letters 
from Europe.' It is due, however, to Mr. Seward, to say, that they were 
written solely for the gratification of his own family and a few intimate 
friends, without the slightest expectation that they would ever be given to 
the public. If any of his political opponents should think proper to find 
fault with these letters, we shall respectfully inquire who among them pos- 
sesses the industry and the talent to have travelled through England, Ire- 
land, Scotland, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and France, within a period 
of less than three months, and produce nearly eighty letters (filling upward 
of nine hundred manuscript pages) of equal intei*est and intelligence?" 

These letters exhibit a refined taste, great acuteness of 
observation, and a genial sympathy with the grand and 

* See Vol. in. 



THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 43 

beautiful in nature. The reputation of t]ie writer was en- 
hanced by the avowal of their authorship. 

Mr. Seward returned from his European tour in season 
to take his seat in the senate, at the opening of the session 
of 1834. The public attention was occupied with impor- 
tant questions both of national and of state politics. In 
the controversy relating to the United States bank, Mr. 
Seward took a leading part, and by his vigorous and elo- 
quent appeals produced a strong impression upon the pub- 
lic mind. 

The removal of the deposites by Gen. Jackson took 
place in September, 1833. Mr. Yan Buren was then vice- 
president, and in order to promote his claims to the presi- 
dency, it was deemed essential to obtain the approval of 
the New York legislature for the measures of Gen. Jack- 
son. Joint resolutions were accordingly introduced by 
the administration party in January, 1834, approving the 
removal of the deposites, instructing the senators and rep- 
resentatives in Congress to oppose the renewal of the bank 
charter, and ascribing the financial distress of the country to 
the influence of that institution. These resolutions passed 
the assembly by a large majority. Not a voice was raised 
in opposition to them. In the senate, however, they met 
with a different reception. With a deep conviction of 
duty, and in spite of the remonstrance of his friends, Mr. 
Seward broke the ominous silence, and, in an elaborate 
speech,* opposed the passage of the resolutions. This 
speech, which was, on the whole, the most powerful efi'ort 
of his intellect and legislative experience during his career 
in the New York Senate, occupied a part of two days in 
the delivery. It was forcible and conclusive in argument, 
pointed and brilliant in expression, and adorned with the 
appropriate embellishments of historical and classic illus- 
tration. Its effect, not only on the senate, but throughout 
the state, was of so decided a character, that several sen- 

* See Vol. L, p. U. 



44 GOVERNOR MARCY'S LOAN-BILL. 

ators of the opposite party attempted to set aside its influ- 
ence by formal replies. This called forth Mr. Seward in a 
rejoinder on the 24th of January, on which occasion he 
indulged in a severity of remark to which he was not ac- 
customed, and for the only time in his public life, noticed the 
personal attacks of which he had been made the subject. 

The evils which Mr. Seward had predicted in conse- 
quence of the removal of the deposites, spread over the 
country with fearful rapidity. Before the close of the ses- 
sion, a severe financial pressure was felt everywhere. 
Commencing among the mercantile classes, it soon extended 
to every department of business and industry. Public 
meetings were called to express the prevailing dissatisfac- 
tion, and to avert further calamity. Committees were ap- 
pointed to implore relief of the president and Congress. 
As a suitable measure to alleviate the general pecuniary 
distress. Governor Marcy recommended the issue of six 
millions of stock, to be sold on account of the state. A 
bill to this effect was introduced into the legislature, 
providing that four millions of the avails of this stock 
should be loaned to safety-fund banks, and the remainder 
to individuals, on bond and mortgage. Mr. Seward de- 
nounced the measure in an admirable speech,* delivered on 
the 10th of April, 1834. The design of the bill was to 
operate favorably for the administration at the ensuing fall 
election. This resulted in the re-election of Grov. Marcy ; 
no stock was issued, and the measure, having accomplished 
its purpose, passed into oblivion. 

The last speech of Mr. Seward in the senate related to 
the chartered rights of the city of Albany. It was a tem- 
perate and logical performance, but failed to prevent the 
passage of a law, which in his view, was a violation of the 
rights of the city. At the close of the session, he was for 
the third time designated to draw up the usual addressf of 
the minority of the legislature to the people of the state. 

* See Vol. L, p 37. f See Vol. Ill, p. 349. 



THE COURT OF ERRORS. 45 

The two great parties on national and state questions were 
now fully organized. A general trial of strength was to be 
made in the approaching election. The result of this strug- 
gle would indicate the probable issue of the presidential 
election which was to take j^lace in 1836. The address, 
accordingly, went into a thorough exposition and defence 
of the whig policy, and with this document, were concluded 
the services of Mr. Seward in the les-islature of New York. 
The court of errors, which was the court of final appeal 
in New York, from 1775 to 1846, was an institution copied 
from the English house of lords. It consisted of the chan- 
cellor, the judges of the supreme court, and the members 
of the senate. In the case of appeals from chancery, the 
chancellor gave his reasons for the decree he had made, 
but did not vote. In acting on judgments of the supreme 
court, the judges explained the grounds of their decision, 
but did not vote. Mr. Seward, although at that time the 
youngest member of the court, took a leading part in its 
proceedings. His course was distinguished for its indepen- 
dence, although he never forgot the courtesy due to his sen- 
iors. With remarkable power of analysis and accuracy of 
research, he made himself master of every case, that was 
presented for decision. An opinion pronounced by him in 
the case of Parks vs. Jackson affords an illustration of his 
character as a judge. In that case,* a technical rule had 
been applied by the supreme court, in such a manner as to 
deprive tenants of valuable estates for which they had con- 
tracted and paid in good faith. The reasons for this decis- 
ion Y^ere assigned by Mr. Justice Nelson, of the supreme 
court, afterward chief justice, and now a judge of the Uni- 
ted States supreme court. Chancellor Walworth followed 
in an opinion, in which he defended the judgment of the 
supreme court. Mr. Seward then arose and delivered an 
adverse opinion, and on the question being taken on rever- 
sing the judgment, all the members of the court, with the 

* Wendell's Keport^ Vol. XL, p. 456. 



46 CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR. 

exception of the cliancellor, voted in the affirmative. This 
seems to have been a case where the technicalities of the 
law came in conflict with justice. Mr. Seward, prompted 
by a noble sentiment of right, vindicated the claims of jus- 
tice, against the arbitrary rules of law, carrying the whole 
court with him, in spite of their previous intentions. 

On the 16th of July, 1834, Mr. Seward delivered a eulo- 
gy* on the life and character of Lafayette, before the citi- 
zens of Auburn. This was a chaste and beautiful produc- 
tion. It presented an admirable analysis of the character 
of Lafayette, with a discriminating review of the principles 
of the American Revolution, and of the successive phases of 
French politics from the death of Louis XVI. An account 
of a recent personal conversation between Mr. Seward and 
Lafayette, added greatly to the interest of the discourse. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR DEFEAT AGENT OF HOLLAND 

LAND COMPANY EDUCATION INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 

THE NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD CANDIDATE FOR 

GOVERNOR ELECTION . 

As the autumn of 1834 approached, when the election of 
governor was to be made by the people, the whig party 
were in anxious search of a suitable candidate for the im- 
portant crisis. They were not wanting in men, whose po- 
litical experience, distinguished ability, and brilliant repu- 
tation, eminently qualified them for the office. Of these, 
some had already been candidates and had suffered defeat. 
Others lacked the elements of popularity that were essen- 
tial to success. The general impression of the party favor- 
ed the selection of a new man. The younger portion of 

* See Vol. IIL, p. 25. 



EDUCATION AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 47 

tlie whigs were earnestly desirous that the candidate should 
be taken from their ranks. Mr. Seward's distinguished sen- 
atorial career had made him prominent before the party 
and the state. His bold attacks on the policy of the ad- 
ministration had won the gratitude and the admiration of 
the whigs. It was mainly through his efforts, that the party 
had been organized, and no one was better fitted than him- 
self to take the position of their acknowledged leader. 

Accordingly, at the whig state convention held in Utica, 
September 13, 1834, Mr. Seward was nominated as a can- 
didate for governor. The election came, and he was de- 
feated. The result showed that the whig party had not 
been able to put forth its full strength. It had not yet 
gained confidence in its own power to cope with a party 
that had never been overthrown, and was sustained by the 
monetary influence of the state and the vast patronage of 
the national government. Mr. Seward received a flattering 
vote, and led his ticket in all the counties, but Governor 
Marcy was re-elected by a majority of about ten thousand. 

Mr. Seward, having escaped the claims of public life, re- 
sumed the practice of his profession at the commencement 
of the year 1835. Nor did he lose his interest in the great 
political questions of the day. He still labored, with un- 
shrinking fidelity, in support of the party to which he was 
attached, and of which, by a large proportion, he was re- 
garded as the head. 

On the 3d of October, 1835, he delivered an address* at 
Auburn on Education and Internal Improvements. This 
production was remarkable for its anticipations of the prog- 
ress of the state, and its lucrd exposition of the principles 
of government, which he afterward carried into effect, 
during his administration as chief magistrate. 

In July, 1836, Mr. Seward established himself in West- 
field, Chautauque county, for the purpose of assuming an 
agency to quiet the troubles between the landlords and ten- 

* See Vol. III., p. 128. 



48 EDUCATION OF FEMALES. 

ants of the Holland company. Serious difficulties had 
arisen among the settlers on the tract of the company, and 
the services of Mr. Seward seemed important for the restor- 
ation of tranquillity. A change of scene also it was hoped, 
would prove favorable to his health, which had become im- 
paired by his assiduous professional labors. The manner 
in which he conducted this agency subjected him to much 
reproach in a subsequent political canvass. But of this 
we shall have occasion to treat in another place.* 

The election for governor in 1836 resulted in favor of 
Mr. Marcy, who received a majority of nearly 40,000 votes 
over the whig candidate, Mr. Jesse Buel. Meantime, Mr. 
Seward continued his agency, and his professional toil, with 
extraordinary success. His growing fame produced no 
abatement of his industry, and he devoted himself to the 
interests of his clients with the same earnestness and zeal 
which he had exhibited in his political efforts on the floor 
of the senate. During this period he prepared several es- 
says, which display genuine literary merit, no less than a 
spirit of enlarged and comprehensive statesmanship. 

Mr. Seward received an invitation to deliver a discourse 
on Education! at Westfield in July, 1837. He accepted 
the service, which he performed with signal ability. The 
discourse was a clear and eloquent defence of the principle 
of universal education. It maintained the duty of giving 
public instruction to all classes of the people, irrespective 
of condition or circumstances. In regard to the education 
of females, it claimed for woman the highest standard of 
literary attainment, challenging for her the same intellec- 
tual advantages that were enjoyed by the other sex. 

At a meeting of the whigs of Cayuga county, October 11, 
1837, Mr. Seward delivered a speech of masterly ability. 
The state of the country called forth his most vigorous elo- 
quence. The commercial revulsion, which he had so long 

* See Letters to the citizens of Chautauque county., Vol. IIL 
f See Vol. IIL, p. 136. 



THE NEW YORK AND P]RIE RAILROAD. 4l) 

predicted, was sweeping over the laud. Disastrous experi- 
ence gave ample confirmation to the principles of the whigs. 
In his speech on this occasion, Mr. Seward earnestly ap- 
pealed to the people to redress their wrongs at the ballot- 
box. This was only one of many efforts during the canvass. 
He was indefatigable in his exertions, which were now 
crovv^ned with the most brilliant success. The election re- 
sulted in the total overthrow of the A11)any regency. Tlie 
whigs gained a triumphant victory throughout the state, 
electing six out of eight new senators, and one hundred of 
the one hundred and twenty-eight members of the assembly. 

The New York and Erie railroad was originally under- 
taken by a company chartered while Mr. Seward was a 
member of the senate. He voted against the charter, not 
through hostilitj^ to the construction of the road, but on the 
ground that so great an enterprise could not be effected by 
a corporation, and that the road when completed should 
pass into the hands of the state, like the Erie canal, for the 
public benefit. His vote being misrepresented in the elec- 
tion of 1834, he corrected the error in a letter to a commit- 
tee,* declaring himself unreservedly in favor of that great 
work. As he had predicted, the enterprise languished until 
1837, when it was abandoned by the regency and its party 
in the legislature. It was still sustained by the whig ma- 
jority in the assembly, whose policy, however, was rejected 
by a regency senate. 

A convention of the friends of the railroad was held at 
Elmira on the 17th of October, 1837, at which Mr. Seward 
was present. He was the first citizen, living in a portion 
of the state not immediately interested in the enterprise, 
who gave it his personal support. At the request of the 
convention, he prepared an addressf on the subject to the 
people of the state of New York, in which he gave a brief 
history of the road, and urged the adoption of efficient 
measures for its speedy completion. He placed the resump- 

* See Vol. III., p. 417. t See Vol. III., p. 306. 

3 



60 THE HOLLAND LAND COMPANY. 

tion of the .work on the same broad prmciples of policy 
which pervaded his subsequent administration. On tlie 
strength of such reasonings, the whig party throughout the 
state gradually yielded their aid to the project, and at 
length rejoiced in the completion of the truly magnificent 
structure. 

At the whig state convention in 1838, the names of Wil- 
liam H. Seward and Luther Bradish were presented to the 
electors of the state for governor and lieutenant-governor. 
The previous defeat of Mr. Seward had not in the least de- 
gree weakened the confidence of his friends. They knew 
that it was not owing to personal causes, but to the posi- 
tion of parties ; and hence were anxious again to present 
his claims for the suffrages of i\\Q people. Great impor- 
tance was attached to the election by both political parties, 
on account of its bearing on the presidential campaign of 
1840. The canvass labored under peculiar difficulties. 
During a season of great pecuniary embarrassment, Mr. 
Seward had conducted the affairs of the Holland Land 
Company to the eve of a prosperous close. His agency in 
Ohautauque county had been managed with discretion and 
kindness ; but it did not fail to be used by his political op- 
ponents as an instrument of reproach. Lloping to alienate 
the whigs from their favorite candidate, they charged him 
with fraud, injustice, and oppression, in his treatment of 
the settlers, averring that he had employed his official power 
in tlie agency for his own private emolument, and the ben- 
efit of land speculators. Mr. Seward was silent in regard 
to these calumnies, until they had awakened a painful anx- 
iety toward the close of the canvass. He then published 
his letter to the citizens of Ohautauque county,* which, by 
its clear and cogent statements, put an effectual stop to the 
slanders that were in circulation and gave him popular 
strength never enjoyed before. 

The slavery question was another perplexing element in 

See Vol. III., p. 457. 



TRIUMPH OF THE WHIG PARTY. 51 

this canvass. The yet distant prospect of the annexation 
of Texas was viewed with alarm by the friends of liberty 
at the north. It renewed the discussion of slavery, which 
had not entered into political movements since the Missouri 
compromise in 1820. A portion of the citizens of New 
York, headed by William Jay and Gerrit Smith, had ad- 
dressed letters to the several candidates for office, intended 
to draw out their views on the subject of slavery. The 
mass of all parties at that time regarded this course of ac- 
tion with profound disgust. The candidates of the regency 
party did not hesitate to give a negative answer to the ques- 
tions that had been propounded. The whigs were thought to 
be placed in an inconvenient dilemma. Mr. Seward's an- 
swer* was at once frank and sagacious. While he expressed 
without reserve his devotion to human freedom, he limited 
his aims by a regard to prevailing opinions, and a sense of 
what was practicable in the attainment of right. His reply 
did not compromise his popularity, as had been hoped by 
his opponents. 

The election was warmly contested. With the regency 
the struggle was for life or death. No measures were neg- 
lected on their part to defeat the candidates of the whigs. 
Every species of objection was urged against Mr. Seward. 
The gravest and the most trivial charges were alike brought 
to bear on the canvass. Among other things he was ac- 
cused of the " atrocious crime" of being a young man, as 
he was but thirty-three when first nominated for governor, 
and at this time but thirty-seven. The election took place 
in November, and in spite of unexpected disasters to the 
whig cause in all other states, the " young man" was tri- 
umphantly elected. Mr. Seward's majority reached to 
10,421. The whig party carried the state in every depart- 
ment, and secured a complete ascendency of political 
power. 

* See Vol. III., p. 426. 



52 APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE. 



CHAPTER IX. 

GOVERNOR — CIRCUMSTANCES — MEASURES — SCHOOLS — CATH- 
OLICS — NATIVE-AMERICANS FOREIGNERS LAW REFORM — 

DECENTRALIZATION BANKING IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT 

Mr. Seward was the first whig governor of New York. 
With the exception of De Witt Clinton, he was the only 
one who had ever been elected in opposition to the Albany 
regency. The party which had virtually dictated the pol- 
icy of the state for nearly fifty years was thus effectually 
destroyed, and a new development of principles was to be 
realized under the administration of William H. Seward. 

In entering upon the executive office. Gov. Seward was 
surrounded with peculiar difficulties. The business of the 
country had been prostrated by the revulsions of 1836. 
His political friends looked with confidence to his adminis- 
tration for the financial relief of the public. The whigs, 
moreover, were in power for the first time. Numerous and 
excited applicants eagerly pressed their claims for office. 
In this crisis, G-ov. Seward conducted with great modera- 
tion and impartiality. Cautious in making promises, he 
rejected no application without substantial reasons, which 
he never took pains to conceal. His frankness in render- 
ing all necessary explanations to a disappointed candidate 
was equal to the wise reserve with which he abstained from 
giving undue encouragement.* In this judicious course, 
however, he did not avoid offence. Applicants were more 
numerous than offices. Of course, some must be disap- 
pointed. And of these, some rallied around rival states- 
men. Gov. Seward thus incurred the opposition of several 

* See Official Correspondence, Vol. II., p. 589. 



AGRICULTURE EDUCATION. 53 

prominent mem])ers of the whig party, who, naturally 
enough, adopted principles dift'erent from his own. 

Nor did his election bring the political contest in the 
state of New York to a close. An important battle had 
been won, but the campaign was not completed. Never 
did party zeal run to a greater height than during the 
period of his administration. In describing his official 
career, we shall do little more than indicate the principles 
by which it was inspired, as delivered in his messages and 
other executive papers. 

Among the measures to which the attention of Gov. Sew- 
ard was early directed, was the completion of a lunatic 
asylum, and the adoption of a judicious and humane system 
for the treatment of the insane. Before his retirement from 
office, his suggestions in this behalf were carried into suc- 
cessful operation. Frequently \isiting this and other chari- 
ties of the state, he recommended them to the patronage of 
the legislature, as well by his example as his counsels. 

In the exercise of the pardoning power. Gov. Seward 
exercised, we think, a greater degree of wisdom than most 
of his predecessors. At the same time he labored for the 
introduction of milder forms of punishment in the peniten- 
tiaries, substituting moral discipline for the lash. These 
reforms were afterward adopted by the legislature. 

The interests of agriculture always received the fostering 
care of Gov. Seward. He was anxious for the establish- 
ment of an agricultural department in the state, with a 
view to the especial promotion of that important source of 
public prosperity. His efforts for that measure, however, 
were not seconded by the legislature, and have remained 
to this day without direct fruit. 

Upon the accession of Gov. Seward to office, the system 
of normal schools, in connection with academies and com- 
mon-school libraries, had been partially established. These 
measures received his cordial and efficient support. At 
his suggestion, a system of visitation and inspection of 



54 EDUCATION AND THE CATHOLICS. 

common schools was adopted by the legislature, although 
it has failed to be carried into full effect, much to the 
detriment of the cause of popular education. 

In his messages, Gov. Seward took the ground that the 
welfare of the state demanded the education of all its chil- 
dren,* not as a matter of charity, but of justice and public 
safety. The defects in the public schools of New York 
city led him to recommend a modification of the system, 
and the ultimate substitution of the plan which prevailed 
in the rest of the state. A prejudice, partaking of both a 
national and religious character, had come down from the 
colonial period against foreigners, and especially against 
catholics. It was this class of the population that would 
be most directly benefited by the change in the city schools. 
It was proposed to admit catholic teachers with the same 
facilities as others. An alarm was at once raised through- 
out the state. The protestant cause was declared to be in 
danger, from the undue ascendency of the catholics. Keli- 
gious bigotry was thus excited. The hostility of both 
protestant clergy and laity was arrayed against the gov- 
ernor. He was labelled in effigy in New York. The press 
teemed with abuse of his person and measures. Meantime 
his political opponents, who had always professed to be 
more friendly to foreigners and catholics than the whigs, 
did not fail to take advantage of the popular jealousy for 
the promotion of their views. The whigs, on the other 
hand, who were accustomed to contend with naturalized 
foreigners at the polls, were unwilling to accord them any 
privileges. Between the two parties. Gov. Seward was 
obliged to maintain the contemplated reform on its own 
merits. His influence was greatly impaired by the general 
impression that the measures in question were not only un- 
tenable in themselves, but that they had their origin in sin- 
ister political purposes. This impression, however, was 

* See Ann. Messages, Vol. II., pp. 206, 210, 278; also page 212 of t.l»is vol. 



THE SCHOOL COXTROVERSY. 55 

wholly unfounded, and did great injustice to Gov. Seward. 
His eiibrts in behalf of the children of catholics sprang from 
a deep conviction of the importance of education to all 
men, without regard to condition or circumstances.* Du- 
ring his travels in Ireland in 1833, he saw the effect of 
British policy in depriving the catholic population of the 
means of instruction. The people, thus kept in abject igno- 
rance, were more easily made the victims of oppression and 
tyranny, and more liable to become seditious and treason- 
able. This spectacle produced a strong impression on his 
mind. He became anxious that the catholics in America 
should be put in possession of the advantages of education, 
and so be assimilated to the native population.! 

The controversy on the school question continued through- 
out the whole of Gov. Seward's administration. It affected 
his popularity so much as to deprive him of about two 
thousand votes on his re-election. The result, however, 
has shown his far-reaching sagacity. Like many other 
measures proposed by Gov. Seward, this was in advance 
of public opinion, but has since commended itself to the 
good sense of the people. At the first session of the legis- 
lature, after his retirement from office, his plan for the 
education of all classes of children, not excluding those of 
foreigners and catholics, was adopted by decisive majori- 
ties. No doubt has since arisen as to the utility of the 
measure, except on the part of those whose religious 
scruples had led them to decline a participation in its 
advantages. 

His attention was first called to this question by the fact, 
that the annual school returns from New York showed that 
there were about twentj^-five thousand children in that city 
who did not attend school, and were thus left exposed to 
the allurements of vice and crime. 

* See Greneral Correspondence, Letters to Bishop Hughes and others, 

Vol. in. 

f See Letters from Europe, Yol. TIL 



56 LAW REFORM. 

Along with these efforts of Gov. Seward in behalf of 
educational reform, he was also actively engaged in the 
removal of the prejudices between native Americans and 
adopted citizens. His recommendations to successive legis- 
latures for abolisliino: the lescal disabilities under which 
foreigners labored were, with more or less reluctance, ulti- 
mately adopted.* 

The city of New York was at that time just beginning 
to be crowded with innnigrants, who poured into the coun- 
try from foreign lands. Overtaken by poverty and disease, 
they served to fill the almshouses and the prisons. Their 
overflowing numbers increased the amount both of wretch- 
edness and of crime. In order to lessen the evil, a tax 
upon immigrants was recommended by the mayor of New 
York. The proposal met with general favor. Under these 
circumstances, the public was astounded by the suggestions 
of Gov. Seward for the encouragement of immigration. He 
maintained that the surplus labor of foreign lands should 
be employed to advantage in developing the natural re- 
sources of this country. Instead of shutting our doors upon 
the down-trodden immigrant, he insisted that we should 
welcome him to a share in our industry and citizenship. 
This generous and humane policy, however, was vehemently 
condemned. It subjected its author to great reproach. 
Still, as in the case of the school reform, his measures were 
finally adopted by the state. In 1847 they were made the 
subject of discussion in the legislature, and, having passed 
that body, have since been a part of the established policy 
of New York. 

The courts of law and of chancery in the state of New 
York had, from time immemorial, been subject to a variety 
of expensive delays. Organized on the model of the Eng- 
lish system, the higher courts consisted of judges, a chan- 
cellor, and a vice-chancellor, appointed by the governor 
and senate, and holding office until sixty years of age. In 

* See Annual Messasjes, Vol. II. 



DECENTRALIZATION. 57 

the common-pleas the judges were appointed for five years 
by the same power. The legal practice was marked by all 
the prolixity, technicalities, and superfluous expense of the 
English courts. The judiciary and the banking powers 
were combined with overpowering and overshadowing influ- 
ences by the Albany regency. Gov. Seward exerted all 
his influence in favor of reform. He was opposed by both 
the bar and the judiciary. In opposition to their combined 
efforts, he secured the passage of bills in the legislature 
for reducing the expenses, and simplifying the practice in 
all the courts of the state. Nor did he stop with this 
measure for the relief of the public. He urged a complete 
reform in the constitution of the courts. His plan involved 
the abolition of the court of chancery, and a new organiza- 
tion of the supreme courts and the common pleas. The 
legislature did not receive his suggestions with favor ; but 
they did not fail to exert a salutary influence on the public 
mind. No one can doubt that they prepared the way for 
the radical change in the constitution effected in 1846. 
Under this arrangement, the court of chancery, after an 
existence of over one hundred and fifty years, was abol- 
ished, and all judicial offices made elective by the people. 

It was the desire of Governor Seward from the com- 
mencement of his official career, to effect the decentraliza- 
tion of the political power in the state. By the existing 
laws, the judges of common pleas Avere associated in the 
respective counties with the board of supervisors in the ap- 
pointment of commissioners of deeds, superintendents of tlie 
poor, and other county ofiicers. The boards of supervisors 
were usually divided in politics, and hence the appoint- 
ments were in fact decided by the central power at Albany, 
from which the judges received their offices. At the rec- 
ommendation of Governor Seward the appointing })ower 
was withdrawn from the judges, and the election of most 
of these ofiices given to the people. His efforts for redu- 
cing the emoluments of several favorites in public office were 

3* 



58 SMALL BILLS — AGRICULTURE. 

partially sanctioned by tlie legislature. But his recommen- 
dation to abolish the offices of inspector of various branches 
of produce and manufacture was not adopted until after the 
close of his administration. 

The safety-fund system, of which Governor Seward had 
always been a decided opponent, exploded in 1837. A 
general banking law, passed by the whig assembly of 1838, 
gave the liberty of banking to any voluntary association of 
citizens. The new system, however, was at first defective 
in its details. Many of the banks under this organization 
failed, producing a loss to the bill-liolders. During Gov- 
ernor Seward's administration, the law was revised, and 
with successive improvements, has become the settled 
policy of the state, and has also been adopted by several 
other states of the Union. 

A warm discussion arose during this period, in regard to 
the minimum denomination of bank paper to be used as a 
circulating medium. In accordance with the views of Gen- 
eral Jackson, bills under five dollars were prohibited by 
the legislature of 1837. The senate of 1838 refused to re- 
peal this law. At the recommendation of Governor Seward 
in 1839, the act was repealed by the whig legislature and 
no attempt has been made to restore it since. 

The geological survey of the state, which had been com- 
menced pursuant to an act of the legislature in 1836, was 
brought to a completion, under the auspices of Governor 
Seward. At his suggestion, the legislature appropriated 
funds from time to time for its prosecution, and established 
a depository for the preservation of specimens illustrative 
of the natural history of the state. This, he recommended 
should be made the foundation for a system of popular in- 
struction in the natural sciences, with a view to the improve- 
ment of agriculture. The spirit of his suggestion has been 
carried into effect by the state agricultural society, in its 
system of popular lectures and discussions which are held 
in the Geological museum at Albany. 



IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT. 59 

The results of the geological survey were embodied in a 
series of quarto volumes, which ultimately reached the num- 
ber of thirteen. Governor Seward prepared an elaborate 
introduction to the work, consisting of a review of the set- 
tlement, progress, and condition of the state of New York, 
somewhat on the plan of Mr. Jefferson's " Notes- on Virgin- 
ia." This historical essay is written in a style of admirable 
clearness and fluency, abounding in recondite and valuable 
information, and pervaded by an elevated tone of patriotism 
and humanity. It appears in the Works of Mr. Seward 
under the title of " Notes on New York."* 

The abolition of imprisonment for debt, effected in 1832, 
did not reach the class of non-resident debtors, or those 
held by process issuing from the United States courts. 
Governor Seward was opposed, both from feeling and prin- 
ciple, to depriving unfortunate debtors of their liberty and 
of the opportunity to provide for their families. He had 
not been long in the executive office, when he procured the 
passage of laws, which swept away these relics of barbar- 
ism from the jurisprudence of the state. 

* See Yol. IT., p. 9 to 180. 



60 ANTI-RENT TROUBLES. 



CHAPTER X. 

aOYERNOR, CONTINUED — ANTI-RENT TROUBLES — ELECTIONS 

REGISTRY ACT CANADIAN DISTURBANCES THE M'LEOD 

CASE EXCITEMENT. 

In general, tlie laws of the state were faithfully execu- 
ted during Governor Seward's administration. There was, 
however, an exception. In the counties of Albany and 
Rensselaer, was a tract of land, fifty miles square, lying 
on both sides of the Hudson river, which was- claimed to 
have been granted by the Dutch government, at an early 
day to the Van Rensselaer family, and which was originally 
denominated the manor of " Rensselaerwyck." The lands 
on this tract had not been granted in fee to settlers, as 
elsewhere, but had been farmed out on perpetual leases, 
securing annuities to the proprietor (denominated the Pa- 
troon)^ payable in kind and in la]3or, and containing cove- 
nants, raising charges upon alienation. The late patroon, 
Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, had allowed numerous ar- 
rearages of rent to remain uncollected for many years. At 
his decease, his heirs demanded payment of these arrear- 
ages. The tenants refused to comply. Diiierences grow- 
ing out of these matters, which extended back through a 
period of near fifty years, ripened, in 1839, into discontents, 
popular outbreaks, and open resistance of the laws. Refu- 
sing to tamper with such violent proceedings for a moment. 
Governor Seward issued his proclamation,* calling upon 
the discontented to reflect upon the nature and consequences 
of their unlawful acts, and apply to the legislature for re- 
dress of their grievances, pledging himself to grant them 

* See Vol. II., p. 852. 



VINDICATION OF GOVERNOR SEWARD. 61 

every aid in his power, in bringing their complaints before 
that body. This prodamation was accompanied by the or- 
ganization and despatch of a military force, which, acting 
under the authority of the sheriif, attended him until he 
had executed the legal processes in his hands, including 
those against the individuals who had resisted the laws. 

In announcing these measures to the legislature in his 
annual message, in 1840,* Governor Seward discussed tlie 
nature of the tenures out of which the disturbances liad 
arisen, and recommended that efforts should be made for 
the removal of the difficulty which threatened to be lasting 
and serious in its consequences. He urged a compromise 
of the conflicting claims of landlord and tenant, with their 
consent, and without injustice to either party. The recom- 
mendation was adopted, and Hugh Maxwell and Gary Y. 
Sackett, Esqs., were appointed commissioners to effect, if 
possible, a satisfactory adjustment. After examining the 
subject, and hearing all the parties, the commissioners de- 
cided on the basis of an adjustment, which they recom- 
mended for the adoption of the litigants. The tenants as- 
sented. But the landlord, under mistaken advice, refused 
the proffered terms, and insisted on the rights secured in 
his leases. So the settlement failed. 

During the residue of Governor Seward's administration, 
the laws were executed throughout the discontented re- 
gions, as in the other parts of the state. But the contro- 
versy between the proprietors of the Rensselaer manor and 
the tenants, still continued, and has not been settled to the 
present time. Loud complaints were made against the 
governor for what was alleged to be an unjust concession 
to the claims of the tenants, in treating the restraints on 
alienation and other features in these cases, as illegal and 
inexpedient. Since Governor Seward's retirement from 
the executive office, armed resistance has been more than 
once renewed, and a ruinous litigation has never been sus- 

* See Vol. II., p. 219. 



62 REFORM IN ELECTION LAWS. 

pended. The court of appeals has recently vindicated the 
views of Grovernor Seward, by declaring tlie restraints upon 
alienation, illegal and void. 

This aifair furnishes another instance of Governor Sew- 
ard's clear forecast and sound wisdom, in the adoption of 
measures for the removal of existing evils. For the time 
being, owing to a want of equally enlarged views, his rec- 
ommendations have been discarded. But time vindicates 
their soundness. In the present case, after the subject had 
been litigated, discussed, and argued for years, before le- 
gislatures and courts, the decision was finally made in con- 
formity with the views he had originally urged upon the 
parties interested. 

In his earlier years, Governor Seward, as we have seen, 
devoted considerable attention to military aifairs. During 
his administration, he labored for the accomplishment of 
certain reforms in the militia system, which he had urged 
while a member of the senate. Its unequal operation was 
regarded by him as an infringement of personal rights, and 
a great public evil. He endeavored to relieve the members 
of the society of Friends, and other persons who declined 
performing military duty from religious scruples. This 
measure was not adopted by the legislature. But he did 
not fail to use the pardoning power of the executive in be- 
half of those, who had incurred the penalty of the law, in 
obedience to their consciences. In this course, Governor 
Seward was true to the enlarged and liberal sentiments, 
which he had long cherished, in regard to religious free- 
dom.* It was one of his strongest convictions, that no class 
of citizens should suffer from legal disabilities, on account 
of matters of conscience. Here, too, his views, at last, re- 
ceived the sanction of public opinion, and the changes in 
the militia system, which he had urged in his messages, be- 
came the policy of the state. 

Previously to 1841, the elections in New York occupied 

*■ See Miscellaneous Covrespondenee, Vol. IIL, p. 48L 



THE REGISTRY ACT. 63 

three da3^s — a single board of inspectors receiving all tlie 
votes in each town or ward. This arrangement occasioned 
numerous inconveniences. In the hirger cities, especially, 
it gave rise to a system of frauds and coml)iiiations,Jmpair- 
ing the purity of elections, and impeding the voter in tlie 
exercise of liis political rights. Violent contests took place 
at the polls, which often resulted in the destruction of the 
ballot-box. Every one acknowledged and deplored the 
evil. It was not so easy, however, to discover the remedy. 
The whigs were in favor of an act of registration ; but this 
was regarded by the opposite party as a scheme to deprive 
the poorer classes of the exercise of suffrage. As the sup- 
port of both the great political parties of the day was essen- 
tial to the success of the measure, the whigs modified their 
demands, limiting the call for a registry to the city of New 
York. Governor Seward could not give this course his 
approval. He was opposed to all partial, invidious legis- 
lation. Nor could he be convinced of the practicability of 
the measure, in the existing state of feeling. He accord- 
ingly dissuaded his friends from urging the passage of such 
an act. In its place, he recommended the division of towns 
and wards into election districts, each containing not more 
than five hundred voters, and the limitation of the time for 
holding elections to a single day. These suggestions were 
accepted by the whigs, who then formed a majority of the 
legislature. But under the influence of members from New 
York, they added a provision for a registry act in that city. 
Governor Seward was thus again brought into collision 
with his political friends. He prepared a veto message,* 
presenting his objections to the feature of the bill establish- 
ing a registry. On consultation, however, with the whigs, 
it was found that even if the bill should not pass in spite of 
the veto, yet the party would be convulsed by the conse- 
quent excitement, and incur the hazard of yielding the con- 
trol of the state to their political opponents. The governor 

* See Vol. IT., p. 379. 



64 CANADIAN DISTURBANCES. 

was thus induced to suppress the veto and approve the bill, 
frankly stating to the legislature his objections to the fea- 
ture in question, and predicting its ultimate effect. An 
election was held under the new law*in the following au- 
tumn. The city of New York returned a democratic ma- 
jority, induced by the new provision. The legislature at 
once repealed it by a unanimous vote. The other provis- 
ions of the law still remain in force. 

The patriot disturbance in Canada which occurred in 
1837, awakened deep interest among the people of the 
United States, who lived adjacent to the frontier. A mili- 
tary corps was organized to aid the Canadians in their 
struggle for independence. The federal government adopt- 
ed stringent measures to enforce the neutrality laws. Du- 
ring these excitements an event took place which threatened 
serious embarrassment to the relations of the United States 
with Great Britain. On the night of December 29, 1837, 
an armed force from Canada crossed the Niagara river, at- 
tacked a party of American citizens, who were then asleep 
in the steamboat Caroline, lying in the river at Schlosser. 
One man was killed ; the rest were driven ashore. Having 
cut out the steamboat, the invaders set her on fire, towed 
her into the current of the stream and sent her flaming over 
Niagara Falls. This outrage everywhere excited the deep- 
est indignation. In the border counties especially, the 
people were almost in a frenzy of passion. 

Three years after this occurrence, in the winter of 1840, 
a citizen of Canada, named Alexander M'Leod, while on a 
visit to Niagara county, was said to have boasted that he was 
an active member of the party which destroyed the Caro- 
line. As he was known to be a warm loyalist, the assertion 
was readily believed. He was arrested on the charge of ar- 
son, and committed to jail. In due course of law he was sub- 
sequently indicted for that crime, and detained for trial. 
Upon this the British minister at Washington, Mr. Fox, 
made a reclamxation on Mr. Van Buren, then president of 



THE M'LEOD CASE. (15 

the United States, in behalf of the prisoner. He insisted 
that the destruction of the Caroline was an act of war, for 
which the British government should be held responsible, 
and not a private individual. Hence he protested against 
the trial of M'Leod, and demanded his release from impris- 
onment. The president did not assent to tlie position of 
Mr. Fox ; he maintained that the act was a violation of the 
jurisdiction of New York, and of the United States in time 
of peace. Even assuming the views of Mr. Fox to be cor- 
rect, the matter belonged to the courts of New York for 
judicial examination, with which the federal government 
could not interfere. 

The decision of Mr. Van Buren was immediately commu- 
nicated to Governor Seward, Avhile Mr. Fox, on the other 
hand, submitted the suijject for instruction to his govern- 
ment at home. Governor Seward promptly and dispassion- 
ately replied to the president accepting his decision on the 
part of New York. This reply did not reach Washington 
until after the 4th of March, 1841, when the administration 
had passed into the hands of General Harrison. The affair 
was accordingly intrusted to Mr. Webster, the secretary 
of state under the new president. 

Meantime Governor Seward had despatched the attorney- 
general of the state, Hon. Willis Hall, to Niagara, in order 
to ascertain the facts relative to the transaction. The result 
of the investigation convinced the governor that the evidence 
was insufficient to sustain the indictment, as it appeared 
that M'Leod was not even on the American side of the river 
during the night on which the Caroline was destroyed. 

Mr. Fox was instructed by his government to insist on 
the positions which he had assumed. He accordingly de- 
manded the surrender of M'Leod, menacing the president 
with hostilities in case of non-compliance. In reply to Mr. 
Fox, General Harrison conceded that M'Leod could not bo 
held to trial for the alleged offence, thus confirming the 
views of the British government. This decision was com- 



bb THE :a-LEOD case — THE TRIAL. 

municated to Governor Howard, in a letter from the secre- 
tary of state, through Mr. Crittenden, the attorney-general 
of the United States, who announced the wish of the presi- 
dent that a nolle prosequi should be entered, and a stop 
put to farther proceedings. Mr. Crittenden was despatched 
by the president to Niagara county, with directions to ap- 
pear in court in behalf of M'Leod, and to urge upon Gov- 
ernor Seward the entering of a nolle prosequi. In conver- 
sing upon the subject, Mr. Crittenden informed Governor 
Seward, that Great Britain would declare w^ar against tlie 
United States unless the surrender of M'Leod took place. 
It appeared, however, on further explanation, that the re- 
taliation threatened by Great Britain was made contingent 
not on the detention, nor on the trial, nor even on the con- 
viction of M'Leod, but on his execution. This view was 
sustained by the correspondence with Mr. Fox. Governor 
Seward then informed Mr. Crittenden of the course he 
should pursue. In the first place, it was not probable that 
M'Leod w^ould be convicted, as there was no proof of iiis 
guilt — but if convicted, he could not be executed without 
the governor's consent ; and inasmuch as both governments 
agreed that his conviction would be an infringement of in- 
ternational law, however he might difier from that opinion, 
lie should feel bound to release the prisoner from his sen- 
tence. He added, moreover, that all the questions belong- 
ing to the case, must come under the cognizance of the 
state court, and therefore it was necessary for the trial to 
proceed. But this course involved no risk of compromising 
our relations with Great Britain,for the reasons already stated. 
The trial, accordingly, was postponed. Mr. Crittenden 
returned to Washington to lay the views of Governor Sew- 
ard before the president and his cabinet. It was under- 
stood that, if these views were not approved, the subject 
should receive further examination. But the sudden death 
of General Harrison, and the consequent dissolution of the 
cabinet, left the matter as it was. 



THE M'LEOD CASE — THE RESULT. 67 

Meantime, Joshua A. Spencer, Esq., who had been al- 
ready retained as counsel for M'Leod, was appointed United 
States district attorney for the northern district of New 
York, although against the earnest remonstrances of Gov- 
ernor Seward. At the succeeding term of the supreme 
court, Mr. Spencer appeared with instructions from the 
president, and demanded M'Leod's discharge from the in- 
dictment, without the formality of a trial. The motion was 
resisted by Willis Hall, Esq., in behalf of the state, under 
the direction of the governor. After elaborate arguments 
on both sides, the demand for M'Leod's release was denied, 
sustaining the ground taken by President Van Buren and 
Governor Seward in opposition to the views of President 
Tyler. 

In spite of the fact that war was suspended, not on the 
trial, but on the execution of M'Leod, the public mind was 
greatly excited by the fear of a collision with Great Brit- 
ain. Governor Seward was reproached, in many political 
and commercial circles, with pursuing recklessly a course 
that tended to plunge the two nations in war. But this had 
no effect on his determination. He was convinced of the 
justice of his measures, and resolutely proceeded to carry 
them into effect. 

At length the time for holding the court arrived. It was 
convened at Utica, remote from the immediate scene of ex- 
citement. On trial before a learned and impartial judge, 
M'Leod was acquitted, for want of evidence that he was 
concerned in the outrage. He was then sent into the Brit- 
ish territory by Governor Seward, under an escort, and 
safely delivered on the north side of the Niagara river. 

This critical transaction affords a fresh illustration of 
Governor Seward's firmness and sagacity. Had he listened 
to the advisers whose fears dictated to their judgment, and 
followed the cowardly policy of President Tyler, he would 
have disgraced both the state and the nation in the eyes of 
the world. But his bold and manly course sustained the 



68 ENLARGEMENT OF THE ERIE CANAL. 

honor of the country. The fortunate conchision of the affair 
restored the public mind to tranquillity, and strengthened 
the administration of the state in the esteem of the people.* 



CHAPTER XI 



GOVERNOR, CONTINUED CANALS ENLARGEMENT FINAN- 
CIAL CRISIS — PANIC — SUSPENSION OP PUBLIC WORKS — 
RAILROADS. 

The Erie and Champlain canals were completed in 1825. 
Tliis great enterprise of internal improvements had been 
brought to a prosperous completion by De Witt Clinton, 
against the strenuous opposition of the Albany regency. 
But even before these works were finished, it was seen that 
they could not attain the objects of their construction with- 
out the addition of lateral canals, connecting with the Sus- 
quehanna and other rivers on the south, and with Lake On- 
tario on the north. The Erie canal was but forty feet wide, 
and four feet deep. It was soon evident, that, instead of a 
canal of such limited capacity, a ship-canal was necessary 
to unite the navigation of the lakes with that of Hudson 
river. As early as 1835, it was found necessary to replace 
the locks and other structures of the Erie canal. At the 
same time, the state debt incurred in its construction, and 
that of the Champlain canal, had been virtually paid. Un- 
der these favorable circumstances, the legislature voted the 
enlargement of the Erie canal, on a scale to be fixed by the 
canal board. The scale adopted was seventy feet wide and 
seven feet deep, with double instead of single locks, as be- 
fore used. But the act limited the expenditures for the en- 
largement to the annual surplus of the tolls after deducting a 
large amount for the general purposes of the state treasury. 

* See Correspondence, Vol. IL, pp. 547-586. 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 69 

In 1836, the construction of the Genesee Yalley and the 
Black River canals was decided on by the legislature. 
These works were intended as branches of the system of 
internal improvements which had. previously been com- 
pleted, including the Oswego, Seneca, and Cayuga and 
Crooked Lake and Chenango canals. A loan of three mil- 
lions of dollars had been made, during the same year, to 
the New York and Erie Railroad Company, for the aid of 
their enterprise. The next year saw the progress of all 
these works, while the canal commissioners recommended 
a more vigorous prosecution of the enlargement of the Erie 
canal. The recommendation was urgently renewed by Gov- 
ernor Marcy and the canal commissioners in 1838. But the 
state was then suffering from a commercial revulsion. The 
comptroller, Mr. Flagg, indirectly opposed the recommend- 
ations, in a report insisting on the necessity of taxation for 
the support of the treasury. This report was answered by 
Hon. Samuel B. Ruggles, chairman of the committee of 
ways and means in the assembly, who showed that the in- 
crease of tolls on the canals would sustain a loan of thirty 
millions of dollars, reimbursing it in twenty years, or of forty 
millions of dollars, reimbursing it in twenty-eight years. In 
accordance with this estimate, the legislature, in 1838, made 
an appropriation of four millions of dollars for the prosecu- 
tion of the enlargement, and authorized the loan of eight 
hundred thousand dollars on the credit of the state, in aid 
of the Central and other railroads. 

Such was the condition of internal improvements in the 
state, when Mr. Seward entered upon the executive office 
on the first of January, 1839. The state debt was then 
eleven millions of dollars ; but there were four millions of 
dollars in the treasury available for the public works, re- 
ducing the actual debt to about seven millions of dollars. 
Governor Seward vigorously followed up the legislative 
policy of 1838. He recommended that measures should 
be adopted to secure the enlargement of the Erie canal, 



70 FINANCIAL CRISIS AND PANIC. 

and the completion of the lateral canals, before the year 
1845. 

The report of Mr. Flagg, the comptroller, who retired 
on the coming in of the whig administration, presented an 
alarming picture of debt, taxation, and bankruptcy, as the 
consequences of perseverance in the public works. Mr. 
Flagg was supported by the opposition party in the legisla- 
ture and throughout the state, wliile Governor Seward was 
sustained by the whigs with great unanimity. 

To increase the embarrassments of the whig administra- 
tion, and to shake the public confidence in the ability of 
the state to complete the system in which it was engaged, 
it was now discovered that the canal commissioners who 
had recommended the new enterprises had made too low an 
estimate of their cost, which, instead of fifteen millions, 
three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, for the en- 
largement of the Erie and the construction of the Genesee 
Valley and the Black River canals, would amount to thirty 
millions, four hundred and forty-four thousand dollars. 

The people were alarmed by this unexpected announce- 
ment. Oppressed by pecuniary difficulties in every depart- 
ment of business, the public was divided in opinion. The 
whigs maintained the wisdom and necessity of completing 
the public works in spite of the errors of the estimate. But 
the opposing party condemned the policy in very decided 
terms. They predicted an insupportable burden of taxa- 
tion, and ultimate repudiation as its inevitable consequence. 
This was the great issue between the two parties during 
the whole of Governor Seward's administration. 

A crisis at length came. The failure of Pennsylvania, 
Michigan, Illinois, Mississippi, Maryland, and other states 
which had largely engaged in schemes of internal improve- 
ment, produced in 1841 a general depreciation of American 
credit in Europe. The stocks of New York, which had 
been pledged abroad, were returned, glutting the market 
in our commercial cities. The capitalists became alarmed. 



atJSPENSION OF THE PUBLIC WORKS. 71 

With a view to prevent a further decline in securities, they 
combined with the opposition party against the prosecution 
of the public works. Their measures were met by Gov- 
ernor Seward with decided resistance. In his messages to 
the legislature, he forcibly remonstrated against suspending 
the improvements already commenced. Maintaining that, 
in spite of the fall of public credit abroad, the true policy 
of the state was unchanged, he clearly set forth the evils 
that would ensue from the abandonment of the enterprise. 
But it was all in vain. Political managers took advantage 
of the prevailing panic to counteract the policy of the gov- 
ernor. The moneyed interest chimed in. His sagacious 
admonitions were unheeded, and the legislature, in 1842, 
put a stop to the progress of internal improvement. In his 
message, at the extra session of 1842, he thus alludes to 
the sudden and humiliating close of these prosperous and 
well-directed enterprises : — 

"For the first time in the quarter of a century which has elapsed since 
the ground was broken for tlie Erie canal, a governor of the state of New 
York, in meeting the legislature, finds himself unable to announce the con- 
tinued progress of improvement. The officers charged with the care of the 
public works have arrested all proceedings in the enlargement of the Erie 
canal and the construction of the auxiliary works. The K^ew York and 
Erie railroad, with the exception of forty-six miles from the eastern termi- 
nation, lies in unfinished fragments throughout the long line of southern 
counties stretching four hundred miles from the "Walkill to Lake Erie. The 
Genesee Valley canal, excepting the portion between Dansville and Roch- 
ester, lies in hopeless abandonment. The Black River canal, which was 
more than two thirds completed during the last year, has been left wholly 
unavailable. As if this were not enough, two railroads, toward tlie con- 
struction of which the state had contributed half a million of dollars, and 
public-spirited citizens large sums in addition, have been brought to a forced 
sale, and sacrificed with almost total loss to the treasury, without yielding 
any indemnity to the stockholders, and without even securing a guaranty- 
that the people would be permitted to enjoy the use of the improvements." 

Such was the condition of affairs on the first of January, 
1843, when Governor Seward resigned the administration 
of the state into the hands of his successor. A convention 
was called in 1846 to revise the constitution, containing a 



72 RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF GOVERNOR SEWARD'S POLICY. 

large democratic majority. It incorporated provisions in 
the constitution, prohibiting the enlargement of the public 
works, except under stringent, and, as it was thought at 
the time, impracticable conditions. Still the canals, ex- 
ceeding the largest estimates of the late whig administra- 
tion, furnished the means for a gradual prosecution of the 
contemplated improvements until 1850. The whigs being 
in power at that time, it was ascertained that the sum of 
nine millions of dollars would suffice to complete the public 
works on the original plan. It was also ascertained that 
this object could be accomplished without pledging the 
credit of the state, by a simple transfer of the surplus tolls 
of the canals for a short term of years. Daniel Webster, 
John C. Spencer, and other eminent jurists, to whom the 
question had been submitted, expressed the opinion that 
such a measure would be in accordance with the provisions 
of the constitution. After a vehement party struggle, the 
legislature of 1851 decided on its adoption. The adverse 
party brought the question before the state courts, which 
finally declared that the law was unconstitutional. Still, 
few can now doubt the wisdom of the policy maintained by 
Governor Seward.* It only remains to determine how the 
constitutional prohibitions of 1846, as expounded by the 
court of appeals, shall be modified so as to allow the speedy 
attainment of the great object.f 

The agency of Governor Seward in behalf of internal im- 

* See Vol. II., pp. 183-212. 

f Since the above was written, Governor Seward's views have been sig- 
nally vindicated by the legislature and the people, and his policy re-estnb- 
lished. By an amendment of the constitution, the proposed enlargement is 
to be speedily accomplished, the legislature of 1854 having passed the 
amendment by an almost unanimous vote. In the senate the ayes were 
twenty-nine, and the nays none ; absent three. In thji assembly there were 
one hundred and fifteen ayes, and one nay ; absent twelve. The voice of 
the people, sanctioning the act of the legislature, was no less emphatic. 
The amendment, having been submitted to the people at a special election, 
was confirmed by the following vote : for the amendment, 185,802 ; against 
the amendment, 60,556. 



RAILROADS PROJECTED. 73 

provements was by no means limited to the canal system. 
Upon his accession to the executive office, railroads were a 
recent invention. They had been adopted only to a com- 
paratively small extent in any part of the United States. 
They still met with a strenuous opposition from many of the 
leading New York politicians. The only railroads in the 
state were the Harlem, eight miles in length, and the Alba- 
ny and Utica, ninety-five miles in length. Great efforts had 
been made to extend the latter road from Utica toward the 
west ; but popular prejudice and pecuniary embarrassment 
were too strong for the corporations. The construction of 
the New York and Erie railroad had been abandoned ; but 
Governor Seward from the first was an earnest advocate of 
the improvement. With almost prophetic sagacity, he con- 
stantly predicted the success of this new mode of locomo- 
tion. His zeal in its behalf excited alarm in the conserva- 
tive, commercial, and political circles. 

In his annual message in 1839,* he expressed himself in 
the following words : — 

"This wonderful agent [steam] has achieved, almost unobserved, a new 
triumph, which is destined to effect incalculable results in the social systeno. 
This is its application to locomotion upon the land. Time and money are 
convertible. Husbandry of the one is economy of the other, and either is 
equivalent to the economy of labor. Railroads effect a saving of time and 
money; and, notwithstanding all the incredulity and opposition they en- 
counter, they will henceforth be among the common auxiliaries of enter- 
prise. Happily it is not in our power to fetter the energies of other states, 
although we may repress our own. This useful invention, like all others, 
will be adopted by them, although it gain no favor from us; and they who 
are willing that New York shall have no railroads, must be ready to see all 
the streams of prosperity seek other eliannels, and our state sink into the 
condition of Venice, prostrate and powerless, among the monvmients of her 
earlier greatness. A glance at the map would render obvious the utility of 
three great lines of communication, by railroads, between the Hudson river 
and the borders of the state. One of these would traverse several of the 
northern counties, and reach with its branches to Lake Ontario and the St. 
Lawrence. A second, keeping the vicinity of the Erie canal, would con- 
nect Albany and Buffalo. A third would stretch through the southern 
counties, from New York to Lake Erie." 

* See Vol. n., p. 183. 

4 



74 NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD. 

These confident predictions have since become magnifi- 
cent realities. In his messages and speeches, Governor 
Seward also urged the construction of a railroad on the 
banks of the Hudson, from New York to Albany. Indeed, 
they often manifest not a little impatience with the skepti- 
cism and want of public spirit which discouraged the 
undertaking of such an important enterprise. 

In a speech delivered at Elmira in 1850, on the comple- 
tion of the New York and Erie railroad, Grovernor Seward 
related some curious personal reminiscences, in regard to 
the progress of internal improvements. The clief cVceuvre 
of his college life, he remarked, was an essay prepared in 
1820 against the Erie canal, then in course of construction 
under the auspices of De Witt Clinton. He attempted to 
prove that the canal could never be completed — or, if 
completed, that it would be the ruin of the state. In five 
years from that time the canal was finished, and boats 
placed on its surface, from tide-water to Lake Erie. Just 
nineteen years after the production of that essay, he found 
himself in the place of De Witt Clinton, urging the en- 
largement of the canal to double its original capacity, and 
the construction of three lines of railroad, between substan- 
tially the same termini^ to supply the deficiency of the 
canal for transporting the commerce of the state. These 
recommendations were regarded by the public as even still 
more visionary than the schemes of Governor Clinton had 
been in his e^imation. But, notwithstanding the popular 
incredulity, on retiring from office at the end of four years, 
he had the satisfaction of seeing the aggregate length of 
the railroads of the state increased from one hundred to 
eight hundred miles.* 

Nor has the devotion of Governor Seward to the cause 

* Tlie directors of the New York and Erie railroad compauy, in token. 
of their appreciation of Governor Seward's services, presented him Avith a 
formal vote of thanks on his retirement from office, with a ticket elegantly- 
engraved on silver for the free passage of himself and family on the road 
during life. 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 75 

of internal improvements been confined in its operation to 
the state of New York. He has never failed to cherish a 
deep interest in whatever was adapted to increase the busi- 
ness advantages, and promote the permanent welfare of the 
people in every portion of the Union. 

In a recent speech in the senate, while advocating a 
railroad to the Pacific ocean, he thus reviews the progress 
already made in internal improvements : — 

"What are two thousand miles of I'ailroad for the people of the United 
States to make, who, within eighteen years past, have made twelve thou- 
sand miles! The railroads which have been made in the state of jS"ew 
York alone have an aggregate length of two thousand three hundred and 
one miles, exceeding the distance from Lake Erie to the Pacific ocean. 
And if you add the canals, the chain would reach from the banks of the 
Hudson river to the shores of the Pacific ocean. The railroads already 
made in the United States, if drawn out into one lengthened cliain, would 
reach from Liverpool to Canton. The railroads which have been made, 
and are now being made, in the United States, if stretched continuously 
along, Avould more than encircle the globe. Again, I shall be told of the 
cost of this railroad. And what will be its cost? One hundred millions 
of dollars. A cost not exceeding the revenue of the government of the 
United States for two years only — a cost not exceeding the revenue of the 
federal and state governments for one year. One hundred millions of dol- 
lars; why, we have offered that sum for one island in the Caribbean seal 
One hundred millions of dollars; why, New York city spent one sixth of 
that sum in supplying itself with water, and grew all the while! One 
hundred millions of dollars; the state of New York has already spent, in 
making canals and railroads, one hundred and thirteen millions, and pros- 
pered while spending it as never state or nation prospered before. That 
one hundred millions of dollars, if it should never be directly reimbursed, 
will be indirectly replaced within ten years, by the economy which it 
would enable us to practise in the transportation of the army, and of the 
supplies of the army and navy over it, not to speak of the still more impor- 
tant benefits of bringing the public domain into cultivation, and into in- 
creased value, and developing rapidly the mineral wealth of Californin, which 
can be only imperfectly realized now, because labor on that side of the 
continent is worth four dollars a-day, while it is worth but one here. 

As we write these lines (1854), we see the whole stu- 
pendous scheme recommended by Governor Seward on the 
eve of completion, in spite of commercial and political 
obstacles. 



76 THE PARDONING POWER. 



CHAPTER XII. 

GOVERNOR, CONTINUED THE PARDONING POWER BENJAMIN 

RATHBUN JOHN C. COLT VETO POWER d'HAUTEVILLE 

CASE THURLOW weed — REGISTRY ACT. 

We have already alluded to the exercise of the pardon- 
ing power by Governor Seward. As the subject is one of 
such deep interest, we will here more fully illustrate the 
principles which guided his course in this respect.* Com- 
bining a natural generosity and tenderness of feeling with 
a lofty sense of justice, he could not permit his sympathy 
with the unfortunate to weaken his energy in the execution 
of laws, w4iich were intimately connected with the order 
and safety of society. He allowed no conviction, ascer- 
tained to be unjust, to stand on any pretence. 

An insane man who had committed homicide in Rensse- 
laer county, under circumstances of revolting cruelty, was 
induced by the court, the public prosecutor, and his own 
counsel, to plead guilty to an indictment for murder. He 
was sentenced to be executed, under an arrangement be- 
tween them, that, in consequence of thus pleading, the sen- 
tence of death should be commuted to confinement in 
the stateprison for life. The court and counsel urged the 
governor to adopt that course, on the ground that the pub- 
lic safety and public opinion both required the confinement 
of the offender. The governor answered that a man too 
insane to be executed was too insane to be imprisoned for 
life, and discharged the offender at once. 

No woman, not abandoned to vice and crime, was suf- 
fered to endure the full punishment prescribed by the law. 

* See Vol. IT., p. 615. 



BENJAMIN RATHBUN — JOHN C. COLT. 77 

And it must be a pleasant recollection to Governor Seward, 
that in no instance was a woman so pardoned ever after- 
ward convicted of crime. Juvenile delinquents were par- 
doned for first offences not very atrocious. But, in these 
cases, preliminary arrangements were made through the 
agency of their friends, for their removal from the scenes 
of their temptations, and their establishment in pursuits 
favorable to their reformation. 

The possession of social advantages, instead of aiding 
offenders to procure pardon, was always regarded as an 
objection. On the other hand, great allowance was made 
for ignorance, orphanage, or social neglect, as presenting 
incentives to crime. 

In the well-known case of Benjamin Rathbun,* whose 
forgeries were understood to have amounted to the sum of 
one million five hundred thousand dollars, pardon was ear- 
nestly demanded on the ground of extenuating circum- 
stances, and the social position of the criminal. His case 
was warmly pressed. Petitions for a commutation of pun- 
ishment were signed by more than ten thousand persons, 
of all parties and ranks. But, closing his eyes to every 
consideration but the claims of justice and the integrity of 
the law, and believing their vindication, in such a case, to 
be highly important, Governor Seward steadfastly refused 
all entreaties to extend pardon, although urged by strong 
political and personal friends. At the same time, pardons 
were granted to ignorant and obscure persons who had 
committed forgeries and larcenies for trivial amounts, un- 
der the excuse of absolute want, in their own case, or that 
of their families. The discrimination against John C. 
Colt,t whose case excited deep interest at the time, pro- 
ceeded upon similar grounds. 

Nor did Governor Seward allow the pardoning power in 
his hands, to become converted to purposes of oppression. 
It is gratifying to know, that while the popular approbation 

* See Vol. II., p. 630. t See Vol. IT., p. G-16. 



78 EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY. 

of his administration in otlier respects, owing generally to 
political rancor, was delayed until the prejudices and pas- 
sions of the day had subsided, no such delay occurred in 
regard to his conduct in the matter of pardons. His acts 
in this department of his duty, generally received immediate 
and wide-spread commendation. But what probably was 
esteemed by him as more important, was the approving tes- 
timony of his own mind. We can hardly conceive of a 
higher pleasure than he must have experienced in writing 
the following letter to Catlmrine Wilkins (a convict he had 
pardoned), unless it was surpassed by his satisfaction in 
learning how eifectual the letter had been in saving her to 
whom it was addressed. 

Executive Department, May 1, 1839. 
You have been convicted of Grand Larceny and have been adjudged to 
suffer imprisonment in the stateprison for three years. You were made 
known to benevolent individuals in this city by your crime and the conse- 
quent trial upon it. These gentlemen have made unsparing exertions to 
ascertain your real name and history and to call your distant friends to 
your aid. Those friends when informed of your unhappy situation have 
only answered that they were too humble to exercise any influence in your 
behalf and too poor even to visit you in your distress. Whatever willing- 
ness I might have had to interpose for your relief you must be aware that 
it has been accidental, if it is not rather to be regarded as providential, that 
those gentlemen were moved to solicit that interference. But you ought 
also to understand that executive interference was by no means to have 
been expected, even upon such solicitation as has prevailed in your behalf. 
Very many applications have been made to me for pardon after conviction 
and before the sentence was carried into execution. I have granted none 
under such circumstances where I was not satisfied that the conviction was 
unjust. Y^'ours is a case of manifest and confessed guilt. You are pardoned. 
It is because you are young; because this is your first exposure to the law; 
because you are a woman and a stranger, and it may in charity be believed 
that your virtue would have resisted temptation had not want and seduc- 
tion combined to effect your ruin. If confined to a stateprison your good 
name would be irretrievable and the associates to which you would be ex- 
posed would forbid all hope of reformation. I have thought it my duty to 
accompany the pardon now freely senttoj'ou with my advice that you re- 
turn as speedily as possible to your aged and afliicted mother: that you jus- 
tify this extraordinary act of mercy by humble and pers(iveriiig assiduity in 
domestic duties which is tlie only way to regain the respect and confidence 
of your friends and neighbors. If you will do this you will carry consola- 



JAMES WATSON WEBB. 79 

tion to the hearts of your parents and I shall have the satisfaction of know- 
ing that I have not done injustice to the public in yielding, for once, to the 
impulses of sympathy. 
To Cathakixe Wilkins. 

A gentleman who had interested himself in this case in 
passing through New Jersey, recently, found this young- 
woman there enjoying the entire respect of the community. 
She drew the governor's letter from her bosom and said 
that its advice had saved her from rain and that it had 
never been for one moment out of her immediate possession. 

Governor Seward no doubt enjoyed a similar pleasure in 
the surprise exhibited by a slaveholder, who applied for the 
pardon of his slave, convicted of crime in New York, and 
sent to the stateprison at Sing-Sing. The master urged 
his petition on the ground that it would relieve the state 
of the expense of the slave's imprisonment ; and he present- 
ed the record of a case where a slave had been thus par- 
doned by one of the governor's predecessors. Governor 
Seward answered that notwithstanding the precedent, he 
did not think it right to pervert a power intrusted to him 
for purposes of humanity, to accomplish an act of oppression. 

The same independence of character was manifested in 
the case of James Watson Webb.* Colonel Webb had 
fought a duel with Hon. Thomas F. Marshall, in the state 
of Delaware, and was convicted under a law of this state, 
passed as early as 1817, and sentenced to the stateprison. 
There had been no attempt to enforce this law, except in 
two cases which occurred immediately after its passage, and 
in these instances, the offenders were pardoned by the gov- 
ernor who then filled the executive chair. Afterward the 
law became obsolete, for want of public ojunion to sustain 
it. Duelling was still practised in the state of New York, 
notwithstanding this law was on the pages of the statute- 
book, and that too hj men enjoying the liighest distinctions 
and honors, including De Witt Clinton himself. It is easy 

* See Vol. IL, p 661. 



80 THE VETO POWER. 

to see that if the oifender in the duel with Marshall, had 
been a political editor opposed to Governor Seward, the 
enforcing of the conviction under such circumstances, would 
have been regarded as an act of personal and political re- 
taliation. No one can suppose he would have enforced it 
under such circumstances. But Colonel Webb, the offender 
in this case, was a personal and political friend of Gover- 
nor Seward's, and his editorial controversies had made 
many relentless enemies. Colonel Webb having, like many 
others, made himself liable to the penalties of this law, 
probably without being aware of its existence, those ene- 
mies, unconscious, without doubt, of the motives which in- 
fluenced them, demanded the rigorous application of the 
obsolete statute. Tlie governor showed, in this instance, 
that lie was not afraid to do in the case of a friend, what 
all men who knew his impartiality and magnanimity, would 
have expected him to do toward an adversary. He par- 
doned Colonel Webb. In the case of Rathbun, he would 
not pardon, because, among other principal reasons, the 
offender had moved in high circles and had powerful friends. 
In the case of Webb, he pardoned notwithstanding he oc- 
cupied an elevated position and was surrounded by influen- 
tial friends. In both instances he showed his coolness and 
courage in resisting popular clamor, when satisfied that 
justice demanded such resistance. 

Governor Seward's principles in the exercise of the veto 
power, may be learned by reference to his messages* deliv- 
ered on the several occasions when he assumed its exercise. 
The D 'Haute ville case will serve as an illustration. 

A lady of large wealth, a resident of Boston, while trav- 
elling in Europe, had married a French gentleman, by the 
name of D'Hauteville, of greater respectability than of for- 
tune. One child was the fruit of this connection. She sep- 
arated from her husband, and relurned to America, in 1840, 
bringing her child with her. D'Hauteville appeared in Bos- 

* See Vol. ir,, pp. 374, 379, 426, &c. 



THURLOW WEED. 81 

ton, and demanded her retnrn to Europe, insisting, in case 
of refusal, on the custody of his child. The friends of the 
lady, designing that she should take refuge in the state of 
New York, procured a hurried passage of an act by the 
legislature of this state, then in session, providing that 
where an American woman should be married to a foreigner 
who should propose to require her, with his children, to re- 
move to Europe, the court of chancery should have the 
power to interpose and take charge of the children and 
their fortune. A veto from Governor Seward arrested the 
passage of this bill,* upon the ground that no nation could 
wisely or justly make a discrimination in its laws regulating- 
parental or other domestic relations, on the ground of the 
alienage of either of the parties — a decision the wisdom 
and soundness of which few can doubt. 

With the return of an opposition to the legislature, came, 
of course, a desire for the benefits to be derived from the 
enjoyment of the state printing. An act was passed re- 
moving Thurlow Weed from the ofi&ce of state printer, which 
he held, under a contract authorized by law. Governor 
Seward interposed his vetof promptly, on the ground of the 
inhibition, in the constitution of the United States, of the pas- 
sage of laws by the states impairing the obligation of contracts. 

But while he thus exercised the veto-power to arrest in- 
considerate and unconstitutional legislation, he declined 
interfering in cases of pure legislative discretion, as has 
been seen in his action on the New York registry bill, and 
in his consent, against his own opinions, to the act of 1842, 
suspending the public works. In such cases, however, he 
insisted on the right of stating the grounds of his qualified 
approval of bills, in the message communicating the execu- 
tive assent. It must be left to impartial public opinion, free 
from the bias of temporary excitement, to decide between 
him and the legislature, on their refusal to receive such 
messages and enter them on their journal. J 

* See Vol. IL, p. 374. f See Vol. IT., p. 426. | See Vol. II., p. 41 1. 

4* 



82 FUGITIVE SLAVES — JURY-TRIAL. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

G VERNOR, CONTINUED — SLAVERY FUGITIVES JURY-TRI Ali 

VIRGINIA CONTROVERSY COLORED VOTERS KIDNAP- 
PING NORTHRUP CASE ELECTION OF 1840 HENRY CLAY 

POLITICAL AFFAIRS — RENOMINATION DECLINED. 

In his administration of the state government, Governor 
Seward took a firm and dignified attitude against the insti- 
tution of slavery. He labored to clear the statute-l)ooks 
of every provision which authorized holding a man in slave- 
ry, in any form, or on any pretext. His devotion to the 
principles of freedom at length accomplished the work which 
had been so nobly commenced by the admirable statesman 
John Jay, in 1795. The law, which permitted a master, 
travelling through the state with his slaves, to retain them 
for the space of nine months, was repealed through his in- 
fluence. It was this repeal by which the slaves in the re- 
cent Lemon case, who had been brought from Virginia to 
the city of New York, in order to be shipped to Texas, were 
saved from perpetual bondage. 

Governor Seward also procured the passage of an act by 
the legislature, allowing the benefit of a jury-trial to per- 
sons claimed as fugitive slaves. He defended this right 
with his usual fervid eloquence, and it was mainly through 
his efforts that it was incorporated in the policy of the state. 
At a subsequent period, when the fugitive-slave bill was de- 
bated in the United States senate, he labored to have a sim- 
ilar provision engrafted in its details. 

An act was also passed, at his instance, prohibiting state 
officers from participating in actions for the/ecovery of fu- 
gitive slaves, and denying the use of the public jails for 



UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. 83 

their detention. He held that these were actions under the 
constitution and laws of the United States, and should, 
therefore, be executed only by the United States marshals 
and judges in United States courts, and that imprisonments 
tliey might order should be in United States prisons, if such 
could be found. Although the supreme court of the United 
States pronounced these laws to be unconstitutional, they 
were clearly founded on the eternal principles of right and 
justice. They will form an enduring memorial of the wise 
humanity of Governor Seward, and of his heartfelt devo- 
tion to the spirit of freedom, as embodied in the Declaration 
of Independence. 

It was through his agency, moreover, that a law was 
enacted, in 1840, for the recovery of free colored citizens 
of New York who should be kidnapped into slavery. This 
law authorized the governor to employ an agent for the aid 
of such persons, securing their restoration to liberty. It 
was under the provisions of this act, that H. B. Northrup, 
Esq., of "Washington county. New York, in January, 1853, 
procured the liberty of Solomon, a colored man, long a 
member of his family, who twelve years ago had been in- 
veigled to the city of Washington, and there kidnapped and 
sold into slavery. 

Among Governor Seward's last official reconnnendations 
to the legislature, was an amendment of the constitution of 
the state, by which the freehold qualification required of 
citizens of the African race, as a condition of exercising the 
right of suffrage, should be abolished. He based this rec- 
ommendation on the principles of natural justice. And he 
urged tlie necessity of granting the right of suffrage to ev- 
ery class of persons subject to the laws of the state, and 
the safety with which it could be thus extended where a 
system of universal education had already been established. 
It is to be regretted that on the revision of the constitution, 
in 1846, this recommendation was found to have anticipated 
public Simtiiuont for an indefinite period of time. But thnt 



84 THE VIRGINIA CASE. 

Governor Seward's recommendation on this point will yet 
be adopted and incorporated into the constitntion of the 
state, there can not be a doubt. 

The course of Governor Seward in regard to these meas- 
ures was an agreeable surprise to the abolitionists, who had 
failed to obtain any pledge from him during the preliminary 
canvass. His noble position in the " Virginia case" was 
adapted to win the admiration of every lover of freedom.* 

The outlines of this case may be briefly given as follows : 
In 1839, a vessel from Norfolk, Virginia, on arriving near 
the port of New York, was found to contain a slave, who 
had secreted himself in the hold. He was taken and con- 
veyed back to bondage. Three colored seamen belonging 
to the vessel, who had expressed their sympathy with the 
fugitive, were charged with having conveyed him out of 
the state by stealth. Affidavits were made to that effect in 
Norfolk. A requisition, based on these affidavits, was made 
by the lieutenant-governor of Virginia upon the governor of 
New York, for the surrender of the accused, in accordance 
with the provisions of the constitution of the United States, 
and the act of Congress of 1793, concerning fugitives from 
justice. Before the requisition was presented to Governor 
Seward, the parties had been arrested in the city of New 
York ; but, having been brought before Robert H. Morris, 
the recorder of the city, on a writ of habeas corpus^ were 
discharged by him on the ground of the insufficiency of the 
affidavits to justify their detention. The lieutenant-governor 
of Virginia, however, persisted in the requisition, demand- 
ing that the governor of New York should surrender the 
persons as fugitives from justice. Governor Seward replied 
that they had been discharged from arrest in due course of 
law, and that the affidavits in support of the requisition were 
informal and insufficient. At the same time, he admitted 
that these affidavits could be replaced by new affidavits, or 
a formal indictment. Disdaining, however, to stand upon 

* See "Virginia Controversy," Vol. II., pp. 449-516. 



FUGITIVES FROM JUSTICE. 85 

mere light technicalities in so grave a case, he met the ques- 
tion on the broad and universal principles which it involved. 
He took the ground that the crimes contemplated by tlie 
constitution of the United States, in its provisions authori- 
zing the demand of fugitives from justice, between the sev- 
eral states, were not such crimes as depended on tlie arbi- 
trary legislation of a particular state, but such as were mala 
in sese — crimes which could be determined by some com- 
mon standard, as the concurrent sense of the several states 
— the common law received by them all alike, or the uni- 
versal sentiment of civilized nations. No state, he argued, 
could force a requisition upon another state, founded on an 
act which was only criminal through its own legislation, 
but, compared with general standards, was not only inno- 
cent, but humane and praiseworthy. Thus, the aiding of a 
slave to escape from bondage was in itself an act of virtue 
and humanity. No statute could pronounce such an act a 
crime, without a perversion of both reason and justice. Still 
further, though slavery was left by the constitution of the 
United States to the exclusive jurisdiction of the states 
where it existed, it was carefully excluded from federal 
recognition. Hence no state w^as bound by the constitution 
to recognise slavery or any of its incidents in another state, 
so as to create an obligation for the surrendry of persons 
charged with oflences in violation of laws enacted by slave- 
holding states for the maintenance of slavery. This rea- 
soning was applicable to all cases, and not alone to those 
which grew out of slavery. By the laws of New York, for 
instance, as in several other states, there was no legal im- 
prisonment for debt. But in Pennsylvania this barbarous 
custom was still sanctioned by the laws : hence, in tliat 
state, resistance by a debtor to a civil officer charged with 
process was a felony. The governor of Pennsylvania had 
made a requisition on Governor Seward, under tlie federal 
constitution, for the surrender of a citizen of New York, 
indicted in Pennsvlvania, fn- resistance to a sheriff charged 



80 THE VIRGINIA CONTROVERSY. 

with an execution against his person. Governor Seward 
refused to comply with the requisition, on the principles be- 
fore stated. While the decision was acquiesced in by the 
state of Pennsylvania, Virginia withheld its assent in the 
case presented from that state. 

A correspondence ensued, which continued during the 
whole of Governor Seward's administration. The legisla- 
ture of Virginia appealed from the governor to the legis- 
lature of New York. The public mind was profoundly 
moved by this novel and important discussion. Although 
not made an affair of strict party division, the whig legisla- 
tures of New York, more or less explicitly, sustained the 
position of the governor. 

Upon the election of an opposition legislature in 1842, 
the assembly took a different ground, and requested Gov- 
ernor Seward to communicate their opinion to the legisla- 
ture of Virginia. In a firm but respectful manner, he de- 
clined to comply with the request.* Tlie soundness of his 
views on this subject received a striking illustration in sub- 
sequent requisitions by the governors of Louisiana and 
Georgia, demanding the surrendry of fugitive slaves on the 
most frivolous pretexts as fugitives from justice ; in one case, 
on the indictment of a female-slave for stealing the gown 
on her back, valued, by the grand jury who found the indict- 
ment, at twelve and a half cents : and in the other, on the 
indictment of a person for stealing a female-slave from her 
master, and stealing the calico dress and trinkets worn 
upon her person, when the entire transaction consisted, at 
most, in his persuading the slave to make her escape from 
bondage. 

The state of Virginia, combined with other states, re- 
sorted to retaliatory measures designed to injure the com- 
merce of New York. But this produced no change in the 
decision of Governor Seward, nor in public opinion, con- 
cerning the controversy. The judgment which will ulti- 

* See Special Mpssag.'S, Vol. IT., pp. ?,85-488. 



IMPRISONMENT OF COLORED CITIZENS. 87 

mately be passed upon his conduct in this affair, by the 
moral sentiment of mankind, is indicated in the construc- 
tion placed by the British ministry on the article of the 
recent treaty in regard to the extradition of fugitives 
from justice — an article of similar purport to the extradi- 
tion article in the federal constitution. It was stated by 
them in the house of commons, that they should not deem 
themselves bound to surrender any person charged with a 
crime which should appear to have been committed by the 
offender in effecting his own escape, or that of another 
from slavery. In connection with this subject, it may be 
added that Governor Seward always maintained the uncon- 
stitutionality of imprisoning colored citizens of the free 
states in the slaveholding states, when not charged with 
actual crime. In case of such imprisonment of citizens of 
New York, he employed agents at the expense of the- state 
to obtain their restoration to freedom. 

The condition of G-overnor Seward's private affairs, which 
had been affected by the general depreciation of property 
incident to the financial embarrassment of the country, 
made his acceptance of a re-election in 1840 a matter of 
personal sacrifice. But it was deemed necessary by his 
political friends. His own mind regarded the subject in a 
different light. He had ]3een elected by a diminished ma- 
jority. Several hundreds of whig votes were given for 
other candidates. To him this was a proof of dissatisfac- 
tion on the part of no inconsiderable number of persons ; 
many had been disappointed in their hopes of office ; others 
were alienated by his devotion to reform ; his policy in 
regard to universal education was greatly misapprehended : 
all these causes led him to doubt whether a division of the 
party would not be produced by his remaining in the exec- 
utive chair, although no one, in fact, ever possessed a 
stronger hold on the confidence of a great political party 
than he did at that moment. Besides, Governor Seward 
foresaw, more clearly tlian many of liis friends, tlie ]ri-oo'ress 



88 PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS MR. CLAY. 

of reaction in regard to internal improvements. The op- 
ponents of the policy were rapidly gaining ground ; it 
would be necessary, at another election, to present a 
candidate to the whig party against whom there was no 
considerable prejudice. Accordingly, in January, 1841, 
Governor Seward announced his determination, under no 
circumstances, to again become a candidate for the exec- 
utive office. The announcement took the public by sur- 
prise, especially as it was made at a time when he was 
regarded as having triumphed over all opposition, and 
gained a firm footing as a leader of the whig party. His 
last annual message* was considered the ablest official pro- 
duction of his pen. Nor is it too much to say that few, if 
any, abler documents have ever issued from the executive 
chair of New York. 

The election of General Harrison in 1840, who had been 
nominated for president, in preference to Mr. Clay, on the 
ground of superior availability, induced the friends of the 
latter distinguished lead.er to believe that he would have 
been successful if he had received the nomination. This 
conviction, which became almost universal, produced a set- 
tled determination to secure Mr. Clay's nomination for the 
canvass of 1844. The policy was to foreclose the question 
by popular movements throughout the United States as 
early as the spring of 1842. Governor Seward did not 
assent to the wisdom of the plan. He yielded his private 
views, however, to the prevailing sentiment of the whig 
party. But he could not be persuaded to place himself at 
the head of the movement, with the prospect of a renomi- 
nation for governor. On the contrary, he frankly pointed 
out to his friends the reasons against their course. The 
question of the annexation of Texas, he argued, had be- 
come inevitable. Under the excitement produced by its 
discussion, the anti-slavery interest had grown up in the 
state, from one thousand in 1838, to two thousand five 

* See Yol. IL, p. 297. 



LUTHER BRADISH — WILLIAM C. BOUCK. 89 

liuiidred in 1840, in opposition to General Harrison and 
himself, neither of Avhom was regarded witli special i)reJLi- 
dice by the political abolitionists. It was more than prob- 
able that the premature nomination of Mr. Clay, who was 
already severely censured by tlie abolitionists, would in- 
crease their vote at the state election of 1842, from five 
thousand to fifteen thousand, at the expense of the whig 
party. This would insure the loss of the state to the whigs, 
as well as of the presidential election of 1844. 

Other counsels, however, prevailed. Governor Seward 
persisted in declining a renomination. Mr. Clay was the 
avowed candidate of the whigs for the presidency. The 
result was the increase of the abolition vote to sixteen 
thousand. The whigs were accordingly defeated. Their 
candidate for governor, Hon. Luther Bradish — a man of 
unexceptionable character, well known to the public, and 
universally popular — lost his election by a decided vote.* 

On the last day of Governor Seward's second official 
term, his accounts with the treasury were definitely settled ; 
and on the first day of January, 1843, having occupied the 
executive chair four years, he introduced his successor, Gov- 
ernor Bouck, to the people of the capitol, exchanging with 
him appropriate courtesies on the occasion of his inaugura- 
tion. These courtesies, so well adapted to allay animos- 
ities and to chltivate a better tone of feeling, were at that 
time without precedent. They made a favorable impres- 
sion upon the public mind. With that successor, and all 
others in the executive chair, of Avhatever politics. Gover- 
nor Seward maintained relations of mutual respect and 
personal friendship. 

How strong a hold his benevolent action, during his 
official term, had taken upon the classes most generally 
overlooked, neglected and oppressed, may be seen by refer- 
ring to his replies to letters and addresses elicited by his 
retirement.! 

* The uiiijority for Wiliam C. Bouck was 22,000. f See Tol. IIL 



RETIREMENT FROM OFFICE. 90 



CHAPTER XIY. 

PRIVATE LIFE — JOHN QUINCY ADAMS PROFESSIONAL LA- 
BORS PATENT CAUSES FREEDOM OF THE PRESS FUGI- 
TIVE SLAVE CASE O'CONNELL. 

On retiring from liis official duties, Grovernor Seward 
returned immediately to his residence in Auburn. In one 
week's space of time, he was seen engaged with as much 
calmness and assiduity in his profession, as if he had never 
been removed out of it. Having enjoyed the honors of the 
highest post in his native state, to the full satisfaction of a 
noble ambition, and in a manner to- leave the deep impress 
of his character on its laws and institutions, he was not 
only content, but anxious to turn again to the calls of a 
profession, which he ever pursued with all the ardor of an 
amateur. 

In 1843, Governor Seward, in his retirement at Auburn, 
had the gratification of a visit from Ex-President John 
Quincy Adams, between whom and himself the most inti- 
mate relations of friendship had long existed. The meet- 
ing was one of great cordiality and affection. It has been 
said, and we believe with truth, that on that, as well as on 
other occasions, Mr. Adams expressed his confidence that 
the great work of human rights, which lie would be obliged 
to leave unfinished, would devolve more completely on 
Governor Seward than on any surviving statesman. Thus 
far, at least, that expectation, so honorable to Governor 
Seward, has not been disappointed. His published works 
contain fragments of correspondence between Mr. Adams 
and Governor Seward, together with orations and speeches 



EULOGY ON JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 91 

by the latter, which, while they illustrate his own reverence 
for Mr. Adams, have been regarded as presenting their 
distinguished subject in his just attitude before the world. 

On the occasion of Mr. Adams's death, Governor Seward 
was invited by the legislature of New York to pronounce 
a eulogy* on his character and services. It was one of the 
most faithful and eloquent of the numerous discourses which 
Avere prepared on that great national l^ereavement. Its 
closing sentences, instituting a comparison between the 
death scenes of Napoleon and Adams, are scarcely sur- 
passed in pathetic eloquence by any modern production. 
Believing that a popular biography of that eminent states- 
man would Ije more useful, in disseminating and inculcating 
his principles, than any other contributions that he could 
make to his memory, Governor Seward applied himself to 
the preparation of such a work. With the aid of a com- 
petent friend,! it was brought out in 1849, in the midst of 
many absorbing professioral engagements. The author's 
expectations were fully realized. More than thirty-two 
thousand copies of the work have been already published, 
and its circulation has been continually increasing. 

At the annual commencement of Union College in 1843, 
Governor Seward was invited to deliver the address before 
the Phi Beta Kappa Society, of which he is a member. He 
accepted the appointment, and took for his theme, " The 
Elements of Empire in America."! The address was wor- 
thy of his manly and vigorous intellect, and his extensive 
literary attainments. It presented a comprehensive view 
of the resources of the American Union, and pointed out 
the grandeur of its destiny, under the principles of justice 
and freedom on which it was founded. By special invita- 
tion, he repeated the address at the commencement of Am- 
herst College, the same year. 

During the ensuing six years, Governor Seward devoted 
himself to the duties of his profession with brilliant and 

* See Vol. III., p. 15. f Rev. J. M. Austin. X ^^'^ Vol. III., p. 11. 



92 FORENSIC ARGUMENTS — INVENTION. 

growing success. At first, his practice was confined to the 
various courts of the state, in which lie received liberal re- 
tainers for his services. After the lapse of about two years, 
however, his peculiar aptitude for subjects involving scien- 
tific and mechanical principles gained him a large and lucra- 
tive practice in the trial of patent cases in the United States 
courts. He was thus brought into contact with the most 
distinguished jurists of the country, whom his breadth of 
intellect and sound legal learning enabled him to meet on 
equal terms. In one of his arguments he discusses the sub- 
ject of invention in the following eloquent language: — 

• " There are two great prhiciples of activity, in regard to the 
world. One is creation, the other is invention. Creation is the 
pecidiar attribute of Him who made all worlds, all that is on the 
earth, in the earth, and in the waters under the earth, for the 
greatness, and the welfare, and the happiness of our race. He 
created nothing that is not adapted,' fit, and useful in some way, 
■to promote our health, welfare, prosperity, and happiness. He 
made it all, in the counsels of his OAvn will. He spoke it into 
existence by a word, but he concealed it from his creatures, nnd 
made it their greatest glory to find out the purposes, principles, 
and adaptations, of the things by which he surrounded them. 
Our duty consists in finding them out, and invention is nothing 
more than finding out what will promote the progress of society, 
through all time. He has hidden and concealed nothing so deeply 
that we can not find out, as fast as is best for our welfare and con- 
sistent with his providence, the uses and purposes of everything. 
Invention, then, is worthy of the fostering care of every govern- 
ment. What would society be now, but for the exercise of in- 
vention in times past? Where lies our hope of progress in soci- 
ety, but in the exercise of invention for the future ? Hope is, 
in this respect, the spring of youth to mankind and to nations. 
And, in the exercise of invention, the world is renewing itself, 
and becoming wiser and better, as it approaches those latter days 
when our species will have attained a comparative degree of per- 
fection and exaltation. 

" Wlierein consisted the advantage of the Spaniard over the 



INVENTION. 93 

Peruvian and the Mexican, wlien he subverted the empires of 
America ? It was in this, that the invader had invented the 
power Avhich resides in the combination of sulphur, saltpetre, and 
charcoal. Wherein our superiority over the enemy, whom we 
have recently defeated in the centre of this continent, but that 
Ave have rewarded invention ? Look, too, at the dignity of this 
principle of invention. It stands in contrast with the power of 
the Almighty. He creates instantly ; man finds out slowly, pro- 
gressively, laboriously. AVlien you reflect, you will see that 
thei:e is danger of misapprehension. You have been imagining 
that somebody made, or created, a railroad-wheel. But no hu- 
man being creates. God alone creates. It is our province, wor- 
thy of the patronage of government, and the highest exercise of 
human power, to follow the clews which lead us to his designs, 
with regard to matter, for our happiness and welfare. And what 
is there wrong in this system t Society says to all alike, that, 
if they will devote talent to the discovery of anything which will 
contribute to the welfare of society, they shall have the first en- 
joyment of it for fourteen years, on condition that they will then 
publish it for the benefit of the world at large, for this and future 
generations. If, then, there is an honest thought in your hearts, 
do not your cheeks blush with shame, not because your country 
has conferred this benefit, here and there, on a struggling invent- 
or, but because you are filled with virtuous indignation that Ful- 
ton sleeps in his grave, while his family are mendicants, and 
while the production he gave to the world has become the engine 
of your commerce, the great uniting power that binds your con- 
federacy together, and is revolutionizing the East, bringing Africa 
and Asia into the great fold of the family of civilized man ] It 
is a burning reproach, that he who made the lightning your mes- 
senger, and bids it carry for you messages of love, and grief, and 
joy, and triumph, and trouble, is standing here this day, in this 
court, a suppliant to the laws of the land, to protect him for four- 
teen years in the enjoyment of that instrument, the efiects of 
which, to benefit mankind, can not be bounded by lines, and will 

be felt when time shall have ceased to exist 

" The human race is yet enthralled in ignorance, and to a 
great degree in poverty and suffering. Society is to be disen- 



94 INVENTION. 

thralled by finding out the properties which God lias confeiTed 
on matter. 

" If the merit of invention is so great, it mnst be a pleasing 
gratification to Him who organized the system on which human 
society is established, when he sees one of his creatures so em- 
ployed. And there must have been a beneficent smile from on 
high, lighting up a halo round the head of Fulton, Avhen he in- 
vented a steamboat. No less beneficent must have been the 
i'mile when these poor and humble citizens produced an inven- 
tion which would save the loss of human life on railroads. You 
are the interpreters of the Omniscient Eye in regard to the apti- 
tude of iron for the purpose which we have been discussing. 
You must perform your duty under the belief that he sees your 
hearts, and tries your reins, and that whatever judgment is meted 
by you, shall be meted to you again. For there is an all-seeing 
Eye, that renders to us, even in this life, the reward we merit 
for doing justly 

" 1 ask you, gentlemen, to believe me when I say that you 
are capable of learning something new in regard to the exercise 
of this faculty of invention. It is not, like creation, an instanta- 
neous and a perfect thing ; but It is a progressive and an imper- 
fect thing. Invention is finding out in the dark. It is groping 
in a cavern, stored with all things adapted for our purjjoses. 
The steam-engine was conceived one hundred years before it 
floated on the water, or traversed the land. It Avas described 
in 1783, an engine as complete as it could be. But the Hudson 
received, long after that, the first burden of a boat floated by 
steam. I have seen, in a distant land, a monument to the man 
who perfected the steam-engine so that It produced motion. And 
what was the achievement of Fulton ? It was, that when the 
steam.-englne had been perfected, he stumbled upon the manner 
of applying it to move a boat. When was the magnetic tele- 
graph discovered 1 The germ of It was brought to light by 
Franklin, when he brought down electricity from the clouds by 
means of a kite. Yet that was seventy years ago. And it was 
only within a few years that the manner of applying that prin- 
ciple has been discovered. A cause precedes an efl'ect. One 
thing always precedes or produces another. The carriage-wheel 
produced the first railroad- wheel — of course, it was a spoke- 



FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. 95 

w'lieel. The inventor gropes in a cavern, holding- on to a chain 
that is suspended to the throne of God, who permits him to grasp 
but a shigle link at a time. There must be the boll of rotting 
flax, before there can be the bridal veil. There must be the 
egg before the eagle, the thought before the thing. 

'We learn upon a hint, we find upon a clew, 
From the basket and acanthus is modeled the graceful capital ; 
Tiie shadowed profile on the wall helpeth the limner to his likeness; 
The foot-marks stamped on the clay, lead on the thoughts to printing; 
The strange skin-garments cast upon the shore, suggest another hemisphere ; 
A falling apple taught the sage prevailing gravitation ; 
The Huron is certain of his prey from tracks upon the grass, 
And shrewdness, guessing on the hint, followeth the trail; 
But the hint must be given, the trail must be there, or the keenest sight is 
as blindness.'" 

At the same time, Mr. Seward's genial and generous dis- 
position, and the natural frankness of his manners, gave him 
great influence with a jury, and made his services indispen- 
sable as counsel in criminal cases. His zeal in the defence 
of persons unjustly accused was so great, that he has been 
known not only to give his best efi'orts gratuitously, but to 
furnish a large amount of funds from his own means in their 
behalf. 

In 1845, Governor Seward was engaged in a libel-suit in 
the supreme court of New York, in the case of J. Fenimore 
Cooper vs. Greeley and M'Elrath, publishers of the " New 
York Tribune." He was counsel for the defendants. It 
was deemed a case of much importance, involving as it did 
the rights of newspaper publishers to utter their opinions 
as to the character and acts of men holding positions of in- 
fluence before the public. Governor Seward's argument* 
in this case was a sound and searching production ; it sifted 
thoroughly, and to the bottom, the whole subject of libel, 
the modifications which that law appears to have undergone 
by judicial construction in this state, and the rights of the 
press and the people : the right of free thought and free 

* See Vol. I., p. 391. 



96 FUGITIVE-SLAVE CASE. 

speech, on the one hand, and the right of exemption from 
vituperation and libel on the other — all were brought un- 
der review, and discussed with clearness and efiect. The 
public and the press will acknowledge their obligations to 
Governor Seward for the ability and force with which the 
freedom of speech and of opinion was illustrated and de- 
fended on that trial. 

At the solicitation of citizens of Cooperstown, New York, 
Governor Seward left the state fair at Auburn, in 1844, to 
defend a person of politics adverse to his OAvn, charged with 
the crime of murder. When he had the pleasure of secu- 
ring a verdict which reduced the crime to manslaughter, in 
opposition to the opinion of the court, he declined to receive 
any compensation for his successful effort in behalf of the 
prisoner, although it was tendered by the jury, who felt 
themselves indebted to him for showing how they could 
rightfully vindicate the laws, and by it save a human life. 

In 1847, Governor Seward was solicited by certain hu- 
mane persons in Cincinnati, with a tender of compensation, 
to be raised by subscription, to appear before the supreme 
court at Washington, in behalf of John Yan Zandt, who was 
charged with aiding certain fugitives in an attempt to escape 
from slavery. He consented to undertake the case. The 
argument* which he delivered on this occasion presented a 
masterly and unequalled analysis of the fugitive-slave law 
of 1793, and the provisions of the federal constitution in 
regard to the subject. It closed with the following earnest 
appeal to the court : — 

" The act of 1793 is unconstitutional,' because, by implication 
and certain effect, it recognises slavery as a lawful institution, 
lawfully creating an obligation to labor. All slavery is an open 
violation of the personal rights guarantied to the people by tlie 
constitution. However true it may be that, when Congress finds 
the institution existing in any state, they have no power to dis- 

* See Vol. I., p. 476. 



FUGITIVE-SLAVE CASE. 97 

turb it there — it is clear that they have no right to extend it 
into other states, or compel such states to recognise its peculiar 
code. Such a power is not expressly conferred by the section 
which has been considered, nor is it implied by any necessary 
or reasonable construction. It is manifestly excluded from that 
portion of the instrument, absolutely interdicted by others which 
have been recited, and is at war with the spirit of the whole con- 
stitvition. We need not refer again, minutely, to its provisions 
to support this argument. Our senses tell us,, our happiness as- 
sures us, our pride proclaims, the graves and glory of our ances- 
tors, every day and every hour remind us, that we are a free 
people ; and that the constitution is a legacy of liberty ; and, so 
far as liberty and slavery depend on that great charter, all men 
are free and equal. If all this be not evidence enough, we can 
read the same truth m the severe derision we justly excite 
throughout the world, and the humiliation we can not conceal, 
when we attempt to justify the toleration of slavery. 

" For myself, an humble advocate in a great cause, I can not 
hope, I dare not hope, I do not expect, that principles which 
seem to me so reasonable, so just and truthful, can all at once 
gain immediate establishment in this tribunal, against the force 
of many precedents and the weight of many honored names. 
But I do humbly hope that past adjudications, by which the 
constitution was unnecessarily declared to recognise, sanction, 
and guaranty slavery, may be reconsidered. I appeal to the 
court to restore to that revered instrument its simplicity, its 
truthfulness, its harmony with the Declaration of Independence 
— its studied denial of a right of property in man, and its jealous 
regard for the security of the people. I humbly supplicate, that 
slavery, with its odious form and revolting features, and its dread- 
ful pretensions for the present and for the future, may not receive 
in this great tribunal, now, sanction and countenance, denied to it 
by a convention of the American states more than half a century 
ago. Let the spirit Avhich prevailed in that august assembly, 
only find utterance here, and the time will come somewhat more 
speedily, when throughout this great empire, erected on the 
foundation of the rights of man, no court of justice will be re- 

5 



98 EULOGY ON O'CONNELL. 

quired to enforce involuntary obligations of labor, and up- 
hold the indefensible law of physical force." 

The argument also stated most of tlie important objec- 
tions now urged against the present fugitive-slave law. In 
this case, also, Glovernor Seward declined all compensation. 

In September of the same year. Governor Seward was 
invited by the Irish citizens of the city of New York, to 
deliver a eulogy on the life and character of Daniel O'Con- 
nelL* An immense assemblage of adopted and native-born 
citizens, listened to him with the highest admiration. Like 
all similar efforts from the pen of Governor Seward, it was 
a production at once chaste and eloquent, full of historical 
and classical allusions, with many passages of the most 
thrilling pathos, and did ample justice to the principles and 
deeds of the great Irish orator. We give only his beau- 
tiful exordium : — 

" There is sad news from Genoa. An aged and weary pilgrim 
who can travel no farther, passes beneath the gate of one of her 
ancient palaces, saying with pious resignation as he enters its 
silent chambers : * Well it is God's will that I shall never see 
Rome. I am disappointed, but I am ready to die.' 

" The ' superb' though fading queen of the Mediterranean 
holds anxious watch through ten long days over that majestic 
stranger's wasting frame. And now death is there ^ — the Libe- 
rator of Ireland has sunk to rest in the cradle of Columbus. 

" Coincidence beautiful and most sublime ! It was the very day 
set apart by the elder daughter of the church for prayer and sacri- 
fice throughout the world for the children of the sacred island, per- 
ishing by famine and pestilence in their houses and in their native 
fields, and on their crowded paths of exile, on the sea and in the 
havens, and on the lakes and along the rivers of this far distant 
land. The chimes rung out by pity for his countrymen were 
O'Connell's fitting knell ; his soul went forth on clouds of in- 
cense that rose from altars of Christian charity : and the mourn- 
ful anthems which recited the faith and the virtue and the 
endurance of Ireland were his becoming requiem." 
* See Vol. III., p. 44. 



THE WYATT AND FREEMAN CASES. 



no 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE WYATT AND FREEMAN CASES MASSACRE OF THE VAN 

NEST FAMILY WILLIAM FREEMAN WYATT'S TRIAL 

TRIAL OF FREFJMAN EXTRAORDINARY PROCEEDINGS. 

In 1845, a convict of the stateprison at Auburn, Henry 
Wyatt, was indicted for the murder of a fellow-convict. His 
attempts to procure able counsel, had failed for want of 
ability to make the usual recompense. On the day but one 
preceding his trial, he invoked Governor Seward's interpo- 
sition for his defence. His appeal was promptly accepted. 
During the trial, many striking incidents were disclosed, 
which showed that the crime was committed in a morbid 
state of mind. The case clearly fell within a class which 
medical writers designate under the general name of moral 
insanity. Governor Seward procured, at his own expense, 
the scientific witnesses necessary to j^l^esent the case fairly 
to the jury. He followed in his defence with an argument 
of great power and pathos. The jury divided and could 
not agree upon a verdict. His second trial at the next 
circuit court, was eagerly anticipated, with full confidence 
that he would be acquitted. This event, however, was 
destined to become the occasion of difficulties such as few 
advocates have been called to encounter. After the close 
of the first trial, Governor Seward left Auburn on a pro- 
fessional tour to Washington and the southern states. 

Vv^hile the case of Wyatt was yet the topic of discussion 
in Auburn and its vicinity, a singularly revolting occurrence 
took place, which served to increase the agitation of the 
public mind. This was the massacre of nearly a whole 
family by William Freeman, a negro of twenty-three years 



100 MASSACRE OF THE VAN NEST FAMILY. 

of age, who had been six months before discharged from 
the Auburn stateprison, after an imi^risonment of five years. 
The bloody scene occurred at the residence of John G. Van 
Nest, a wealthy and highly respectable farmer, and a friend 
and former client of Governor Seward's, whose house stood 
in a secluded grove, near the suburbs of Auburn, on the 
shores of the Owasco lake. Having armed himself with 
carefully-prepared weapons. Freeman entered the dwelling 
at ten o'clock at night, and slew Mr. Van Nest, his wife, 
then pregnant, a child sleeping in its bed, and the mother- 
in-law of Van Nest, Mrs. W3^ckoff, an aged woman of sev- 
enty. The hired man, who came to the defence of the fam- 
ily,, was severely injured and left for dead. Tlie murderer, 
being disabled by a wound from old Mrs. Wyckoff, desisted 
from further violence, and made his escape. Taking a 
horse from the stable, he rode him a few miles, when he 
stabbed the animal, which had become incapable of travel- 
ling. He then stole another horse, whicli proved to be 
more fleet, and pursuing his flight, rode to the house of a 
relative about thirty miles from Auburn. There he offered 
the horse for sale, and proposed to take up his residence, 
until he should recover from his wound. He was traced 
and arrested, in a few hours, and brought back to the scene 
of butchery, and into the presence of the surviving witnesses. 
On being questioned, he at once confessed the crime, not 
only without apparent remorse or horror, but with frequent 
and irrepressible fits of laughter. The public indignation 
was so excited at this awful tragedy, that it required all 
the dexterity of the police to keep Freeman from being torn 
to pieces on the spot. He was at length committed to the 
jail, by a successful stratagem, but the crowd could with 
difficulty be prevented from forcing the doors. They were 
appeased only by the assurance of one of the judges of the 
county, that Freeman should be tried and executed, and 
that there should be no plea of insanity and " no Governor 
Seward to defend him." 



WYATT AND FREEMAN — EXCITEMENT. 101 

None of the usual motives appearing on the part of Free- 
man for the commission of such a desperate act, it was ru- 
mored that he had been present during Wyatt's trial, and 
liad learned from the argument of Governor Seward that 
responsibilities for crime might be avoided on the ground of 
insanity. This became the popular explanation of the hor- 
ri])le catastrophe. The public feeling ran high against 
Governor Seward. Even threats of personal violence 
were openly made. The excitement became so intense, 
that when he returned from the south, his family and friends 
were surprised that on reaching the depot at Auburn, he 
was permitted to pass to his residence without outrage. 

In this state of affairs, the governor, Silas Wright, was 
induced to issue an order for a special term of the court of 
oyer and terminer, to be held at an early day, by Judge 
Whiting, to dispose of the cases both of Wyatt and Free- 
man. During the interval, public tranquillity was restored 
by the assurance of Governor Seward's law-partners, while 
he was absent, that he would not engage in the defence, it 
being well understood that no other advocate would con- 
sent to give his services to so odious a cause. 

Governor Seward was unmoved by the tempest of excite- 
ment around him. With characteristic courage and calm- 
ness, he proceeded to examine the subject, as a philanthro- 
pist and lawyer. He felt as keenly as any one, the enor- 
mity of the deed. But impelled by a strong sense of duty, 
he was determined to look thoroughly into the case of the 
wretched negro. At his solicitation, accordingly, three in- 
telligent and humane citizens of Auburn made several visits 
to Freeman in jail. They reduced their conversations with 
him to writing, and submitted them to Governor Seward's 
inspection. The result of the investigation, together with 
other facts which had become known to him, convinced him 
that whatever was the condition of Freeman's mind prior 
to the homicide, he wag then sunk into a state of dementia, 
approaching idiocy. 



102 TRIAL OF WYATT. 

The court began with the trial of Wyatt. Governor 
Seward, aware of the intense and aggravated excitement 
which prevailed, applied for a postponement of the case, 
but without effect. A week was consumed without finding 
a single impartial juror. The attorney-general, John Yan 
Buren, was sent for, with haste. On his arrival, the court 
reversed the principles by which the trial of jurors had 
ever been conducted, as laid down by Chief-Justice Mar- 
shall, and adopted a standard that permitted jurors to be 
sworn although they confessed to a bias, or an opinion 
formed of the prisoner's guilt. The obtaining of a juror, 
even under this unprecedented decision, was regarded as a 
triumph, in a controversy in which not only the people of 
Auburn and its vicinity, but of the whole state took sides 
for or against Governor Seward. 

A trial conducted under such circumstances, could have 
but one result. At the expiration of a month, Wyatt was 
convicted and sentenced to be executed. Moral insanity 
was thus, so far as the verdict of a jury could go, judicially 
abolished. Governor Seward devoted four weeks of unin- 
terrupted labor to this case, without the slightest pecuniary 
compensation, and at an outlay of no small sum from his 
own pocket.* 

The Freeman case still remained to be disposed of. It 
came on immediately after the conclusion of Wyatt' s trial. 
An immense assemblage had convened in the courthouse 
at Auburn, to witness the opening of the case. Until that 
moment, it was not known whether Freeman would have 
any counsel. It was supposed the court would assign him 

* Wyatt, after receiving his sentence, anxious to afford Governor Seward 
some compensation, offered to narrate his "life" for publication, the profits 
of wliich sliould go to Governor S., and it was taken down for that purpose. 
But on examination it was found to be of doubtful moral bearing and influ- 
ence, and on that account, Governor Seward refused to permit its publica- 
tion, or participate iu any i>i'()fits arising therefrom. A spurious copy, how- 
ever, was afterward surreptitiously obtained, and broiightout in a pamphlets 
■which yielded a net profit of six hundred dollars to the publisher. 



TRIAL OP FREEMAN. 103 

some junior member of the bar ; but it was considered 
doubtful if one could be found of sufficient nerve to accept 
the appointment, and attempt even a formal and weak de- 
fence. The excited multitude were not backward in loudly 
propounding the inquiry, '' Who will now dare come for- 
ward to the defence of this negro ?" — " Let us see the man 
who will attempt to raise his voice in his behalf!" Nor 
did they hesitate in uttering threats of vengeance against 
any member of the bar who would plead the case of so vile 
a wretch. But there was one seated within the bar in that 
crowded court-room, who heeded not these menaces. A 
being in human form was in distress and peril before him. 
He asked himself, " What does humanity and duty require at 
my hands, in this case ?" And having received from con- 
science a prompt and decisive reply, he unhesitatingly pro- 
ceeded to the labor thus enjoined upon him, without delay- 
ing to consult interest, or popular favor, or any of the 
consequences that might ensue. In vain family, personal 
and political friends, influential citizens, and members of 
the bar, besought him not to interfere, and call down upon 
himself the indignation of the populace. In vain was he 
reminded of the long, weary, and expensive trial to which 
he had just devoted himself, to the neglect of professional 
engagements, and the peril of health — in vain was he fore- 
warned of the still more tedious, costly, and exhausting 
nature of the present case, should he engage in it. A high- 
er law and a louder voice called him to the defence of the 
demented, forsaken wretch, who stood insensible of the 
vengeful gaze of a thousand eyes, and he felt that ,he had 
no alternative. 

Freeman was arraigned on four indictments for murder. 
When asked whether he pleaded guilty to the first indict- 
ment, he replied, " Yes !" " No !" " I don't know !" — 
" Have you counsel ?" was the next inquiry. " I don't 
know," responded the prisoner, with a stupidity which as- 
tonished even those who were most eager for his death. 



104 COUNSEL FOR FREEMAN. 

" Will any one defend this man ?" inquired tlie court. A 
death-like stillness pervaded the crowded room. Pale with 
emotion, yet firm and unflinching as steel, Governor Seward, 
to the amazement of every person present, arose and said, 
" May it please the court, I appear as counsel for the pris- 
oner !" It would be impossible to describe the excitement 
which followed this announcement, or the threatening dem- 
onstrations which it called forth. David Wright, Esq., of 
Auburn, a well-known lawyer and philanthropist, volun- 
teered as associate counsel in defence of Freeman. The 
attorney-general, John Yan Buren, conducted the prosecu- 
tion. 

Governor Seward presented to the court in bar of a trial, 
that the prisoner was then insane. Issue was taken on this 
plea, and a trial was directed by the court, on the question 
of Freeman's insanity at that time. After protracted ef- 
forts similar to those which took place in Wyatt's case, a 
jury was empanneled to try this preliminary question, but 
they were already evidently fixed in their convictions of 
the sanity and guilt of the prisoner. 

Governor Seward's political party, throughout the state, 
shrinking from the unpopularity in which he had involved 
himself, in a proceeding universally denounced by the press, 
abandoned him. While these proceedings were pending, 
the delegates to the convention called to revise the consti- 
tution of the state of New York, assembled at Albany. 
The whig party was supposed to be compromised by Gov- 
ernor Seward's known bias in favor of extending the right 
of suffrage to the colored population. The result of the 
election of delegates had been an overwhelming defeat of 
the whigs. The exclamation was universal, that whatever 
might be the fate of the whig party hereafter. Governor 
Seward was effectually lost. 

Still he did not falter, but sternly persevered in v/hat he 
conscientiously believed to be the line of liis duty, and was 
the only person engaged in these transactions, exce])t liis 



THE FREEMAN CASE. 105 

client, who was calm and unmoved. The trial on the ques- 
tion of the prisoner's sanity, continued two weeks, and was 
contested by Governor Seward with an energy, persever- 
ance, and skill, that drew plaudits from his most violent 
opposers, and that could not have been exceeded had mil- 
lions of dollars depended on the issue. His argument at 
the summing up, for eloquence, pathos, sound legal vicAvs, 
and thorough knowledge of human character, has rarely 
been excelled at the American bar. At length, when the 
jury retired, it was at once found that eleven were agreed 
that the prisoner was sane. The twelfth d-eclared his un- 
changeable opinion that Freeman, although sane enough to 
know right from wrong, was yet so unsound in mind as not 
to be responsible for his actions. The disagreement and 
discussion in the jury-room being privately communicated 
to the court, information was returned to the jurors that 
the verdict would be accepted, although it gave no direct 
response to the question at issue, and was couched in equiv- 
ocal language. They accordingly brought in the following 
verdict — " We find the prisoner at the bar sufficiently sane 
to distinguish between right and wrong." In an earnest 
and elaborate argument, Governor Seward protested against 
the reception of this verdict, as it was illegal, pointless, 
and irrelevant. But it was pronounced by the court to be 
sound and satisfactory, and Freeman was forthwith put upon 
his trial for the murders charged against him. 

He was directed to stand up and plead to the indictment. 
But it was evident to every spectator that the wretched 
imbecile had not the faintest conception of the nature of an 
indictment, or of the object of the scenes around him, in 
which he unconsciously bore so conspicuous a part. 

We shall be pardoned for introducing here the following 
extract from a vivid description of the scene which tran- 
spired at the reading of the indictment, by a clergyman of 
Auburn, who attended the trial, and was an eye-witness of 
the proceedings : — 

5* 



106 TRIAL OF FREEMAN. 

"The district-attorney (Liiman Sherwood, Esq.), with the bill of indictment 
in his hand, called out — 'William Freeman, stand up.' He then ap- 
proached quite near the negro, for he was very deaf, and read the indict- 
ment. At the conclusion, the following dialogue ensued : — 

" Dist Att. — Do you plead guilty, or not guilty, to these indictments? 

"Freeman. — Ha? 

"D. A. — (Repeating the question.) 

" F. — I don't know. 

"jD. a. — Are you able to employ counsel? 

"i^.— N"o. 

" D. A. — Are you ready for trial? 

" F. — I don't know. 

" i>. A. — Have you any counsel? 

'' F—l don't know. 

" D. A. — Who are your counsel? 

" F. — I don't know. 

"At this stage of the proceedings, Governor Seward could no longer re- 
strain himself. He buried his face in his hands, and burst into tears — and 
seizing his hat, he rushed from the court-room, perfectly overwhelmed with 
his feelings. And who that had but a common share of sympathy, could 
fail to be most sensibly moved at witnessing such a procedure on a subject 
so awful, allowed before one of the highest tribunals of the land. An in- 
strument read to this idiotic creature, pregnant with his death, requiring 
him to respond to the same, when the wretched being had not the first 
glimpse of what it all meant, or what effect it would have upon him, D. 
Wright, Esq., who had assisted Governor Seward on the preliminary trial, 
arose after the reading of the indictment, and declared he could not consent 
longer to take part in a cause which had so much the appearance of a ter- 
rible farce. But Governor Seward (who had returned to the room), imme- 
diately sprang to his feet and exclaimed — *May it please the court — 1 
shall remain counsel for the prisoner until his death P At the solicitation 
of the court, Mr. Wright finally consented again to take part in the cause, 
and assist Governor Seward." 

As ihe commission of the acts charged was not denied 
by the prisoner's counsel, the only question at issue was his 
sa/nity at the time of the homicide. Governor Seward la- 
bored with unwearied assiduity to establish the insanity or 
dementia of Freeman, of which he was himself satisfied be- 
yond a possible doubt. At great expense, defrayed by 
himself, he summoned into court the most eminent medical 
professors and practitioners from various and extreme 
parts of the state, whose intelligent and unbiased testimony 
fully sustained the ground on which he urged the defence. 



THE ARGUMENT EXTRACT. 107 

We can make room here for only a few passages of Gov- 
ernor Seward's thrilling argument in this case: — 

"May it please the Court — Gentlemen of the jmy : 
'Thou shalt not kill,' and 'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, 
BY MAN SHALL HIS BLOOD BE SHED,' are laws founcl in the code 
of that people who, although distracted and dispersed through 
all lands, trace their history to the creation ; a history that 
records that murder was the first of human crimes. 

" The first of these precepts constitutes a tenth part of the 
jurisprudence which God saw fit to establish, at an early period, 
for the government of all mankind, throughout all generations. 
The latter, of less universal obligation, is still retained in our 
system, although other states, as intelhgent and refined, as secure 
and peaceful, have substituted for it the more benign principle 
that good shall be returned for evil. I yield imphcit submission 
to this law, and acknowledge the justness of its penalty, and the 
duty of courts and juries to give it effect. 

" In this case, if the prisoner he guilty of murder, I do not ask 
remission of punishment. If he be guilty, never was murderer 
more guilty. He has murdered not only John G. Van Nest, 
but his hands are reeking with the blood of other, and numerous, 
and even more pitiable victims. The slaying of Van Nest, if a 
crime at all, was the cowardly crime of assassination. John G. 
Van Nest was a just, upright, virtuous man, of middle age, of 
grave and modest demeanor, distinguished by especial marks of 
the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens. On his arm leaned 
a confiding wife, and they supported, on the one side, children 
to whom they had given being, and, on the other, aged and ven- 
erable parents, from whom they had derived existence. The 
assassination of such a man was an atrocious crime, but the mur- 
derer, with more than savage refinement, immolated on the same 
altar, in the same hour, a venerable and virtuous matron of more 
than threescore years, and her daughter, the wife of Van Nest, 
mother of an unborn infant. Nor was this all. Providence, 
which, for its own mysterious purposes, permitted these dreadful 
crimes, in mercy suffered the same arm to be raised against the 
sleeping orphan child of the butchered parents, and received it 
into heaven. A wiiole family, just, gentle, and pure, were thus. 



108 THE ARGUMENT EXTRACT. 

ill tlieir owu house, in the night-time — without any provocation, 
without one moment's warning — sent by the murderer to join 
the assembly of the just ; and even the hiboring man, sojourning 
within their gates, received the fatal blade into his breast, and 
survives through the merc}^, not of the murderer, but of God. 

" For William Freeman, as a murderer, I have no commission 
to speak. If he had silver and gold accumulated with the fru- 
gality of Croesus, and should pour it all at my feet, I would not 
stand an hour between him and the avenger. But, for the inno- 
cent, it is my right, my duty to speak. If this sea of blood was 
innocently shed, then it is my duty to stand beside him until his 
steps lose their hold upon the scaffold. 

" * Thou slialt not kill' is a commandment addressed, not to 
him alone, but to me, to you, to the court, and to the whole 
community. There are no exceptions from that commandment, 
at least in civil life, save those of self-defence, and c^^ital pun- 
ishment for crimes in the due and just administration of the law. 
There is not only a question, then, whether the prisoner has 
shed the blood of his felloAv-man, but the question Avhether we 
shall unlaAvfully shed his blood. I should be guilty of murder 
if, in my present relatiou, I saw the executioner waiting for an 
insane man, and failed to say, or failed to do in his behalf, all 
that my ability allowed. I think it has been proved of the 
prisoner at the bar, that, during all this long and tedious trial, 
he has had no sleepless nights, and that even in the daytime, 
when he retires from these halls to his lonely cell, he sinks to 
rest like a wearied child, on the stone floor, and quietly slum- 
bers till roused by the constable with his stafi' to appear again 
before the jury. His counsel enjoy no such repose. Their 
thoughts by day and tlieir dreams by night are filled with op- 
pressive apprehension that, through their inability or neglect, he 
may be condemned. 

" I am arraigned before you for undue manifestations of zeal 
and excitement. My answer to all such charges shall be brief. 
When this cause shall have been committed to you, I shall be 
happy indeed if it shall appear that my only error has been, 
that I have felt too much, thought too intensely, or acted too 
faithfully. 

" If error on my part would thus be criminal, how great would 



THE ARGUMENT EXTRACT. 109 

yonrs be if you should render an unjust verdict ! Only four 
months have elapsed since an outraged people, distrustful of 
judicial redress, doomed the prisoner to immediate death. Some 
of you have confessed, before you came here, that you approved 
that lawless sentence. All men now rejoice that the prisoner 
was saved for this solemn trial. But if this trial, through any 
wilful fault or prejudice of yours, should prove only a mockery 
of justice, it would be as criminal as that precipitate sentence. 
If any prejudice of witnesses, or the imagination of counsel, or 
any ill-timed jest, shall at any time have diverted your attention, 
or if any prejudgment which you may have brought into the 
jury-box, or any cowardly fear of popular opinion shall have 
operated to cause you to deny to the prisoner that dispassionate 
consideration of his case which the laws of God and man exact 
of you, and if, owing to such an error, this wretched man shall 
fall from among the living, Avhat will be your crime ? You will 
have violated the commandment, ' Thou shalt not kill.' It is 
not the form or letter of the trial by jury that authorizes you to 
send your fellow-man to his dread account, but it is the spirit 
that sanctifies that great institution : and if, through pride, pas- 
sion, timidity, weakness, or any cause, you deny the prisoner 
one iota of all the defence to which he is entitled by the law 
of the land, you yourselves, whatever his guilt may be, will 
have broken the commandment, ' Thou shalt do no murder.' 

" There is not a corrupt or prejudiced witness, there is not a 
thoughtless or heedless witness, who has testified what was 
not true in spirit, or what was not wholly true, or who has 
suppressed any truth, who has not offended against the same 
injunction. 

" Nor is the court itself above that commandment. If these 
iudges have been infl.uenced by the excitement Avhich has 
brought this vast assemblage here, and under such influence, or 
under any other influence, have committed voluntary error, and 
have denied to the prisoner, or shall hereafter deny to him, the 
benefit of any fact or any principle of law, then this court will 
have to answer for the deep transgression at that bar at which 
we all shall meet again. When we shall appear there, none of 
us can plead that we were insane and knew not what we did ; 
and by just so much as our ability and knowledge exceed those 



110 THE ARGUMENT — EXTRACT. 

of this wretch, whom the world regards as a fiend in human 
shape, will our guilt exceed his, if we be guilty. 

" I plead not for a murderer. I have no inducement, no 
motive to do so. I have addressed my fellow-citizens in many 
various relations, when rewards of wealth and fame awaited me. 
I have been cheered on other occasions by manifestations of 
popular approbation and sympathy ; and where there was no 
such encouragement, I have had at least the gratitude of him 
whose cause I defended. But 1 speak now in the hearing of a 
people who have prejudged the prisoner, and condemned me for 
pleading in his behalf. He is a convict — a pauper — a negro, 
without intellect, sense, or emotion. My child, with an affec- 
tionate smile, disarms my care-worn face of its frown whenever 
I cross my threshold. The beggar in the street obliges me to 
give, because he says, • God bless you,' as I pass. My dog 
caresses me with fondness if I will but smile on him. My horse 
recognises me when I fill his manger. But what reward, what 
gratitude, what sympathy and affection can I expect here? 
There the prisoner sits. Look at him. Look at the assemblage 
around you. Listen to their ill-suppressed censures and their 
excited fears, and tell me where, among my neighbors or my 
fellow-men — where, even in his heart — I can expect to find 
the sentiment, the thought, not to say of reward or of acknowl- 
edgment, but even of recognition 

" I speak with all sincerity and earnestness ; not because I 
expect my opinion to have weight, but I would disarm the inju- 
rious impression that I am speaking, merely as a lawyer speaks 
for his client. I am not the prisoner's lawyer. I am indeed a 
volunteer in his behalf; but society and mankind have the deep- 
est interests at stake. 1 am the lawyer for society, for mankind, 
shocked, beyond the power of expression, at the scene I have 
witnessed here of trying a maniac as a malefactor. Li this, 
almost the first of such causes I have ever seen, the last I hope 
that I shall ever see, I wish that I could perform my duty with 
more effect. If I suffered myself to look at the volumes of 
testimony through which I have to pass, to remember my en- 
tire want of preparation, the pressure of time, and my wasted 
strength and energies, I should despair of acquitting myself as 
vou and all good men will hereafter desire that T should have 



THE SENTENCE OF FREEMAN. Ill 

performed so sacred a duty. But, in the cause of humanity, Ave 
are encouraged to hope for Divine assistance where human po\v- 
ers are weak. As you all know, I provided for my way through 
these trials, neither gold nor silver in my purse, nor scrip ; and 
when I could not tliink beforehand what I should say, I remem- 
bered that it Avas said to those Avho had a beneficent commis- 
sion, that they should take no thought what they should say 
when brought before the magistrate, for in that same hour it 
should be given them what they should say, and it should not 
be they who should speak, but the spirit of their Father speak- 
ing in them." 

After a laborious and exhausting trial of two weeks' 
duration, aided by the abhorrent nature of the crime, 
the overwhelming popular clamor, and various decisions of 
the court, subversive in many instances, of established rules 
in capital trials, the attorney-general succeeded in procur- 
ing from the jury a verdict oi guilty. 

Governor Seward's efforts in behalf of the prisoner were 
thus defeated. But he had faithfully discharged his duty, 
and the responsibility of holding an insane or idiotic person 
responsible for his deedsj rested not with him. Freeman 
was adjudged and condemned as a sane man. Governor 
Seward had no more to offer in that place, and the court 
was suffered to proceed in passing sentence upon the 
prisoner. 

As in reading the indictment, so in the passing of the 
sentence, a scene occurred unparalleled, we venture to 
af&rm, in any court of justice. Instead of standing in the 
dock as is customary, the judge directed the prisoner to be 
brought to his side upon the bench. The judge then said 
to him : — 

"The jury say you are guilty. Do you hear me?' 
"'Yes,' replied Freeman. 

"'The jury,' repeated the judge, 'say you are guilty. Do you under- 
stand V 

" 'No,' said the negro. 

"'Do yon know wliioh the jury are?' inquired the court. 



112 THE DEATH OP FREEMAN. 

•"JSTo!' answered the prisoner, 

" ' Well ! they are those gentlemen down there,' continued Judge Whiting, 
pointing to the jurors in their seats — 'and they say you are guilty. Do 
you understand?' 

•"No!" 

*' 'They say you killed Van Nest. Do you understand that?' 

"'Yes!' 

'"Did you kill Van Nest V 

"'Yes!' 

" ' I am going to pronounce sentence upon you. Do you understand that ?' 

"'No.' 

"'I am going to sentence you to be hanged. Do you understand that?' 

"'No.'" 

The prisoner was then led back to the dock, and the 
judge proceeded to pronounce sentence of death upon him. 
This he did in the form of an address read to the audience ; 
thus tacitly admitting, what was evident to every person in 
the immense multitude present, that Freeman knew not a 
word he uttered, or the strange scene thus transpiring. 
He was conveyed to his cell as unconscious of the sentence 
that had been pronounced upon him, as an unborn child. 

A bill of exceptions was prepared by Governor Seward, 
but the judge refused a stay of proceedings. It was, how- 
ever, subsequently granted by a judge of an appellate court, 
and in October following, on a full review of the whole case, 
a new trial was granted. But Freeman, who had proved 
himself a monomaniac in the committal of the homicide, 
now sunk so low in dementia, that Judge Whiting, before 
whom he was tried and convicted, pronounced him incom^ 
petent for another trial, and refused to proceed with the 
case. A few weeks later, the wretched and imbruted Wil- 
liam Freeman passed froni earth to the presence of a more 
wise and merciful Judge. 

A post-mortem examination was made, by the most emi- 
nent physicians in the state, which showed that Freeman's 
brain was diseased and destroyed. The publication of 
Governor Seward's second argument* in this remarkable 

* See Vol I., p. 409 to 415. 



REVIEW OF THE CASE. 113 

case, an effort of the highest and most attractive character, 
unsurpassed in eloquence, logic, and legal ability, had 
already wrought a reaction in public opinion, which was 
rendered complete and universal by this post-mortem exam- 
ination. Now, there is no one act of Governor Seward's 
life, for which society is more grateful to him than that of 
having saved the community from the crime of the judicial 
murder of Freeman — an ignorant colored boy who had 
been confined in the stateprison for an offence of which he 
was innocent, and driven to lunacy by a sense of the injus- 
tice of his punishment, and by inhumanity in the exercise 
of penitentiary discipline. 

Before leaving this case, it is due to Governor Seward 
to insert another extract from an article by the clergyman 
in Auburn, to whom allusion has already been made, writ- 
ten immediately after the conclusion of the trial, and pub- 
lished in the journals of the day. It describes the impres- 
sion made at the time by the high-minded and humane course 
of Governor Seward on a class of individuals who did not 
allow retaliatory emotions to cloud their judgment, or harden 
their feelings, against the forsaken creature who committed 
the dreadful homicide. The sentiments it utters in regard 
to the part taken by Governor Seward in this remarkable 
case, we are confident will find a response in every unpre- 
judiced and humane heart : — 

"The conduct of Governor Seward in this painful affaii*- reflects the high- 
est honor upon him. Shocked, horrified, though he was at the awful tra- 
gedy which had been enacted, and which had destroyed a family with whom 
he was on terms of intimate friendship, yet seeing the blood-stained, wretched 
negro deserted by all, even those of his own caste and color, and becoming 
abundantly satisfied that he was an insane, irresponsible being, he nobly 
volunteered in his defence. Moved alone by the sympathies of his generous 
soul, and a high sense of duty to the weak and defenceless — in opposition 
alike to the entreaties of friends ever watchful of his reputation and inter- 
ests, and the imprecations of an incensed multitude, eager that the blood of 
a demented creature should be shed — he boldly threw himself between the 
victim and those who would hurry him in hot haste to an ignominious 
death! Without fee or compensation of any description, for four weeks he 
toiled througli the sultry hours of the summer day, far into the shades of 



114 REVIEW OF THE CASE. 

Bight — sparing no time, no strength, no ability — contesting every inch of 
ground, with an industry, a perseverance, an unyielding faithfulness, that 
wrung commendation even from those most exasperated against his idiotic 
client. And all this for whom? For a negro! — the poorest and lowest of 
his degraded caste — and who, though seated directly by his side, did not 
know that he was his counsel — was not even aware that one of the migh- 
tiest intellects of the age, one of the noblest spirits of the world, was taxing 
his utmost energies in defence of his life! 

"In his eloquent appeal on the preliminary trial respecting Freeman's 
tnsanity, Governor Seward alluded to the excitement which had been kin- 
dled against him for the faithfulness with which he defended both Wyatt 
and Freeman, in the following thrilling passage: — 

" 'In due time, gentlemen of the jury, when I shall have paid the debt 
of nature, my remains will rest here in your midst, with those of my kin- 
dred and neighbors. It is very possible they may be unhonored — neglect- 
ed — spurned! But perhaps, years hence, when the passion and excitement 
which now agitate this community shall have passed away — some wander- 
ing stranger — some lone exile — some Indian — some negro — may erect 
over them an humble stone, and thereon this epitaph : " He was faithful!" ' 

"What spectacle more interesting can be witnessed on eartli than was 
presented on this trial? A statesman of the most commanding talents — 
one who had received the highest honors the people of his native state 
could bestow upon him — one whose well-known abilities call around him 
crowds of wealthy clients, able to reward his valuable services with streams 
of gold — turning from all these, at the call of humanity, and going down 
unrewarded, yea at great pecuniary expense to himself, to the defence of 
this forsaken, pitiable son of Africa! Unrewarded, did I say? A richer 
reward than silver or gold is his! Wherever the tidings of this strange 
trial shall be wafted throughout this civilized world, they will carry the 
name of Sewaed to be embalmed as a sacred treasure in the hearts of all 
lovers of humanity — of all who sympathize with the degraded and enslaved 
Ethiopian — of all who pity those whom God has deprived of reason!" 

An extract from Mr. Seward's argument in this case, con- 
taining an enlightened exposition of insanity, will be found 
among the Selections in this volume. 



THE CONSPIRACY CASE AT DETROIT. 115 



CHAPTER XYI. 

THE TRIAL OF ABEL F. FITCH AND OTHERS FOR CONSPIRACY, 
AT DETROIT, IN 1851 ^MR. SEWARD'S DEFENCE. 

In May, 1851, an announcement was made by the press 
of Detroit, that an atrocious conspiracy (embracing fifty 
citizens of Jackson county, in the state of Michigan), for 
the destruction of the property of the Michigan Central 
Railroad Company, and an indiscriminate war against the 
lives of passengers travelling on the road, had been discov- 
ered, through the activity of agents of that company, and 
of the police, and that the guilty parties had been suddenly 
surprised, arrested, and conveyed to jail in Detroit. 

The accusation took the form of an indictment for arson, 
in burning the depot of that company in Detroit, and the 
proof that of a conspiracy for the commission of that and 
other great crimes. The prisoners alleged their entire in- 
nocence, and declared that the prosecution was itself a con- 
spiracy, to convict them, by fabricated testimony, of a crime 
that had not even been committed. 

The accused parties denied combination with each other, 
and even all knowledge of the principal, who was alleged 
to have committed the crime, and who, as they supposed, 
had been fraudulently induced to confess it and charge them 
as accomplices. In applying to be admitted to bail, the 
sums were fixed so high as to practically deny them that 
privilege. 

Public opinion was vehemently and intensely excited 
against them, by reason of aggressions that had been com- 
mitted in their neighborhood for a long time, sflriously en- 
dangering the lives of passengers. Among the accused 



116 MR. SEWARD'S defence EXTRATT. 

were persons in every walk of life ; and, while the guilt of 
some seemed too prol^able, that of all appeared to be quite 
impossible. The ten most distinguished lawyers of Michi- 
gan were retained, before the arrest, by the railroad com- 
pany, to conduct the prosecution ; and it was said that ev- 
ery other counsellor in the city and state qualified to defend 
them, except one, had been induced to decline to appear in 
their behalf. 

They applied to Mr. Seward, at Auburn, by telegraph, 
after the trial had begun, stating these facts. He did not 
hesitate to appear for men whom the public had prejudged 
and condemned, and whom the legal profession, except for 
his going to their aid, would have been deemed to have 
abandoned. 

The issues were perplexed. The evidence was of a most 
extraordinary character. Even now, it is impossible, on 
reading it, to decide which was most improbable, the exist- 
ence of the crime, or the truth of the defence. The trial 
lasted four months, and so was the longest, in a jury-case, 
that was ever held. The alleged principal died before the 
trial began. One of the chief defendants, and another more 
obscure, died during its progress. Twelve of the fifty de- 
fendants were convicted, and all the others acquitted. All 
these circumstances, together with the ability and learning 
displayed, mark the case as one of the great state trials of 
this country. Mr. Seward's argument was published at the 
time. It reviewed, collated, and condensed the testimony 
of four hundred witnesses, presenting a very complicated 
series of transactions, private and public. 

This speech fills more than one hundred pages in the re- 
port of the trial. To that report we refer the reader, 
regretting that our limits allow us to present only the intro- 
duction and the close of so elaborate and interesting a 
speech : — 

"May it* please the Court — Gentlemen of the Jury: 
This is Detroit, the commercial metropolis of Michigan. Tt is a 



ME. Seward's defence — extract. 117 

prosperous and beautiful city, and is worthy of 3-our pride. I 
have enjoyed its hospitaKties hberal and long. May it stand, 
and grow, and ilourish, for ever ! Seventy miles westAvard, tow- 
ard the centre of the peninsula, in the county of Jackson, is 
Leoni, a rural district, containing two new and obscure villages, 
Leoni and Michigan Centre. Here, in this dock, are the chief 
members of that community. Either they have committed a 
great crime against this capital, or there is here a conspiracy of 
infamous persons seeking to effect their ruin, by the machinery 
of the law. A state that allows great criminals to go unpun- 
ished, or great conspiracies to jDrevail, can enjoy neither peace, 
security, nor respect. This trial occurs in the spring-time of the 
state. It involves so many private and public interests, devel- 
ops transactions so singular, and is attended by incidents so touch- 
ing, that it will probably be regarded, not only as an important 
judicial event in the history of Michigan, but also as entitled to 
a place among the extraordinary state trials of our country and 
of our times. 

" Forty and more citizens of this state were accused of a felo- 
ny, and demanded, Avhat its constitution assured them, a trial by 
jury. An advocate was indispensable in such a trial. They 
required me to assume that office, on the ground of necessity, I 
was an advocate by profession. For me the law had postponed 
the question of their guilt or innocence. Can any one furnish 
me with what -would have been a sufficient excuse for refusing 
their demand ? * Hoc maxime officii est, ut qiiisq_nam maxime 
ojms indigeatj ita ei potissimum opitulari,^* was the instruction 
given by Cicero, Can the American lawyer find a better rule 
of conduct, or one derived from higher authority 1 

" Gentlemen, in the middle of the fourth month we draAv near 
to the end of what has seemed to be an endless labor. While 
we have been here, events have transpired which have roused 
national ambition — kindled national resentment — drawn forth 
national sympathies — and threatened to disturb the tranc|uillity 
of empires. He who, although He worketh unseen, yet worketh 
irresistibly and unceasingly, hath suspended neither his guardian 
care nor his paternal discipline over ourselves. Some of you 

* "The clear point of duty is, to assist most readily those who most need 



118 MR. Seward's defence — extract. 

have sickened and convalesced. Others have parted with cher- 
ished ones, who, removed before they had time to contract the 
stain of earth, were ah-eady prepared for the kingdom of heaven. 
There have been changes, too, among the unfortunate men whom 
I have defended. The sound of the hammer has died away in 
the workshops of some ; the harvests have ripened and wasted 
in the fields of others. Want, and fear, and sorrow, have en- 
tered into all their dwellings. Their own rugged forms have 
drooped ; their sunburnt brows have blanched ; and their hands 
have become as soft to the pressure of friendship as yours or 
mine. One of them — a vagrant boy — whom I found impris- 
oned here for a few extravagant words, that perhaps he never 
uttered, has pined away and died. Another — he who was feared, 
hated, and loved, most of all — has fallen in the vigor of life — 

'hacked down, 



His thick summer-leaves all faded.' 

When such a one falls amid the din and smoke of the battle- 
field, our emotions are overpowered — suppressed — lost, in the 
excitement of public passion. But when he perishes a victim of 
domestic or social life — when we see the iron enter his soul, and 
see it, day by day, sink deeper and deeper, until nature gives 
way, and he lies lifeless at our feet — then there is nothing to 
check the flow of forgiveness, compassion, and sympathy. If, in 
the moment when he is closing his eyes on earth, he declares — 
* I have committed no crime against my country ; I die a martyr 
for the liberty of speech, and perish of a broken heart' — then, 
indeed, do we feel that the tongues of dying men enforce atten- 
tion, like deep harmony. Who would willingly consent to de- 
cide on the guilt or innocence of one who has thus been with- 
drawn from our erring judgment to the tribunal of eternal justice 1 
Yet it can not be avoided. If Abel F. Fitch was guilty of the 
crime charged in this indictment, every man here may neverthe- 
less be innocent ; but if he was innocent, then there is not one of 
these, his associates in life, who can be guilty. Try him, then, since 
you must — condemn him, if you must — and with him condemn 
them. But remember that you are mortal, and he is now im- 
mortal ; and that, before the tribunal where he stands, you must 
stand and confront him, and vindicate your judgment. Remem- 



FORENSIC ARGUMENTS. 119 

ber, too, that he is now free. He has not only left behind him 
the dungeon, the cell, and the chain, but he exults in a freedom 
compared with which the liberty we enjoy is slavery and bond- 
age. You stand, then, between the dead and the living. There 
!s no need to bespeak the exercise of your caution — of your 
jandor — and of your impartiality. You will, I am sure, be just 
:o the living, and true to your country ; because, under circum- 
stances so solemn — so full of awe — you can not be unjust to 
:he dead, nor false to your country, nor your God." 

Of the character of Governor Seward's professional labors 
ind conduct in the department of arguments at the bar, fur- 
ther illustrations will be found in his pleas for the liberty 
)f the press, and against the fugitive-slave law, and for the 
eights of inventors, contained in the collection of his works. 

A single passage from the first-named plea is given here 
IS embodying Mr. Seward's views of resorts to courts of 
justice in vindication of personal character when as- 
sailed : — 

"Actions of libel are now at least comparatively unnecessaiy. 
A. virtuous and humble life carries with it its own vindication. 
A.nd if this be not enough, the press has the antidote to its own 
poisons. If it sometimes wounds, it can effectually heal. An 
eminent citizen who once presided in this court commenced pub- 
ic life with actions in defence of his character. Assailed as he 
thought in the evening of his life, he appealed to the press, and 
tiis vindication was complete and successful. The licentiousness 
Df the press has impaired its power to defame — and the worst 
■ibel ever published would be effectually counteracted by a 
publication in the simple words, ' I am not guilty,' if it bore the 
signature of James Milnor, or of one who like him walked among 
bis countrymen in the ways of a pure and blameless life." 



120 RECALL TO PUBLIC LIFE. 



CHAPTER XYIL 

RECALL TO PUBLIC LIFE RETROSPECT POLITICAL AFFAIRS 

GENERAL TAYLOR'S ELECTION CLEVELAND SPEECH. 

The retirement of Governor Seward from office, permit- 
ting party heats to abate, and freeing his views on public 
questions from the influence of prejudice, was followed by 
a growing reaction of popular sentiment in his favor. He 
had been opposed by the abolitionists, because he withheld 
his countenance from their extreme measures, and by the 
enemies of abolition, because of his sympathy with the 
cause. Adopted citizens had been led to distrust the sin- 
cerity of his efforts in their behalf, and protestants saw 
danger to religion in his zeal for equal justice to the for- 
eigner and native. The friends of internal improvement 
accused him of lukewarmness, while the opponents of that 
system predicted the impoverishment of the state from the 
extravagance of his zeal. But now all these prejudices 
were softened. His character and his opinions were pre- 
sented in a truer light. His sincerity was placed above the 
reach of suspicion. No one questioned his rare abilities. 
While new friends were constantly won, his old friends 
adhered to him with affectionate fidelity. Though abstain- 
ing from the exercise of political influence, he was regarded 
as the leader of his party in the state, and his labors were 
claimed for every movement in behalf of its interests. 

Upon the organization of the Native American party, 
which commenced with the burning of Roman Catholic 
churches, and aimed at a complete change in the natural- 
ization laws, the adopted citizens, with one accord, appealed 
to Governor Seward for sympathy and protection. His 



THE TEXAS AND OREGON QUESTIONS. 121 

speeches and letters, during the agitation of this subject, 
show his vigorous resistance to principles which he had 
always regarded as political heresies.* In this respect, his 
course has been uniform and consistent, from the beoinnino:. 

' Oct 

Notwithstanding Governor Seward was overruled in his 
opposition to the nomination of Mr. Clay for the presi- 
dency, in 1844, at the instance of the whig party, he took 
an active part in the canvass of the state, until the day of 
the election. He spared no pains to remove the objections 
of the anti-slavery voters, and of the adopted citizens, to 
the whig candidate. If strenuous energy and powerful 
eloquence could have insured success, Henry Clay would 
have received the vote of New York. But the only result 
of these efforts was to prevent an increase of the desertion 
from the whig ranks, which was experienced in 1842. 

With his uncompromising liostility to the extension of 
slavery in the United States, Governor Seward opposed the 
annexation of Texas to the last, and condemned the Mexi- 
can war, which he had predicted as its consequence. Still, 
during the continuance of the war, he urgently maintained 
the duty of supporting the government by liberal arppro- 
priations of men and money. 

While the Oregon question was pending between the 
United States and Great Britain, he agreed with John 
Quincy Adams that our government should give notice to 
Great Britain of the termination of the joint occupancy 
of that territory. Notwithstanding all the threats and 
alarms of war, he exerted his influence with the members 
of Congress to sustain the administration in the adoption 
of that measure. 

The subject of internal improvements in the state, to- 
gether with the conflicts of interest about the patronage of 
the federal government, produced a division as early as 
1843 in the ranks of the so-called New-York democracy. 
The rival factions came soon to designate each other as 

* See Vol. III. 
6 



122 NEW CONSTITUTION PROPOSED. 

hunkers and barnburners. While each admitted the neces- 
sity of some amendments to the constitution, they could 
not agree on the details. No proposal to that effect, ac- 
cordingly, could obtain the assent of two successive legis- 
latures, or a two-third vote, which was necessary in the 
last instance, for submitting a proposition to the people. 
The barnburners, who sought for more radical reforms than 
their opponents, were thus led to agitate the call of a con- 
vention for the entire revision of the constitution. This 
measure was discountenanced by leading whigs, who re- 
garded it as revolutionary, and of dangerous tendencies. 
Governor Seward took the opposite ground. He argued 
that such a convention would present an opportunity to the 
whigs to take the sense of the people upon the measures 
proposed by the barnburners against internal improvements. 
It might also secure the advantage of decentralizing the 
political power of the state, by dividing it into single sena- 
torial and assembly districts, and transferring the appoint- 
ment of all judicial and administrative offices from the gov- 
ernor and legislature to the people, as well as intrusting 
all matters of local legislation to county boards of super- 
visors, instead of the legislature at Albany. It would, 
moreover, permit an attempt to extend the right of suffrage, 
without a freehold qualification, to tlie African race. The 
views of Governor Seward were generally adopted. The 
convention was called with great unanimity by all parties. 
Although the whigs had but a small minority in that body, 
all the proposed reforms were carried, except the latter. 
The sceptre which had so long been wielded by the Albany 
regency was broken, and the concentration of political, 
judicial, and moneyed power, on which their empire was 
built, was henceforth impossible. 

The recurrence of the presidential election in 1848 found 
Governor Seward consenting to the nomination of General 
Taylor, whom he regarded, at that time, as the only avail- 
able candidate. He had greater confidence in the success 



THE CLEVELAND SPEECH. 123 

of General Taylor, as his name had been brought before 
the people, in connection with the presidency, on account 
of his brilliant achievements in the Mexican war, to which 
he was understood to have been opposed. His election, there- 
fore, would serve to rebuke those politicians who had plunged 
the country in war for selfish purposes, and would thus in- 
culcate lessons of moderation and peace to rulers. Governor 
Seward favored his nomination, moreover, because the pre- 
vious course of the candidate warranted the belief that he 
would veto no act of Congress establishing governments 
which excluded slavery in our newly-acquired Mexican ter- 
ritory. With these views. Governor Seward devoted him- 
self with great energy to the canvass in the state's of New 
York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts, in behalf of 
General Taylor, and of such members of Congress as might 
be relied upon to support his administration and to extend 
the ordinance of 1787, on the principle of the Wilmot pro- 
viso, over the Mexican territories. 

His speech at Cleveland, Ohio, so clearly presents his 
views of the relative position of parties on the slavery 
question that we make room for several extracts in this 
place : -7- 

" The occasion invites to a consideration of many grave sub- 
jects. But the time is short, I shall waste little on the preju- 
dices which constitute the chief capital of our political adversa- 
ries. The two ancient and obsolete parties originated in the 
debate upon questions of organic law, and Avaxed strong in the 
discussion of the principles of administration proper for a neu- 
tral nation during the conflict between European belligerents. 
Each performed its duties and fulfilled its destiny ; each con- 
tributed enough to be remembered in lasting gratitude ; and 
each was hurried at times into errors to be forgiven and avoided. 

" ' The knights are dust, 
Their swoi'ds in rust, 
Their souls in heaven we trust.' 

" Our duties are to the generation which is living, and to the 
generations which are to come into life. It is a living faith, and 



124 THE CLEVELxVND SPEECH. 

not a dead one, that yields beneficent fruits. He who acts from 
prejudice or from passion is a slave. He who persuades another 
to act so makes him a slave. The ballot-box is an altar ot in- 
dependence, not of slavery : — 

" 'Thou of an independent mind, 

With soul resolved, with soul resigned, 

Prepared Oppression's proudest frowns to brave, 

Who will not he nor make a slave, 

Virtue alone who dost revere, 

Thy own reproach alone dost fear — 

Approach this shrine and worsliip here.' 

" I am to converse with whigs only, and not with all whigs, 
but with some who propose to secede temporarily if not perma- 
nently from the association whose labors, privations, defeats, and 
triumphs, they have hitherto shared with perseverance and fidel- 
ity. I shall speak not for a man, not for men, not even for a 
party, but for the common cause which thus far has held us to- 
gether, and which the seceders promise to advance more effect- 
ually by separation. To such I may say, perhaps, without 
presumption — 

" 'Hear me for my cause, and be silent, that you may hear; believe me 
for mine honor, and have respect unto mine honor that you may the better 
judge.' 

"I shall ask 'you to consider, first, the principles and policy 
which the interest of our country and of humanity demand ; 
secondly, how we can most effectually render those principles 
and that policy triumphant. 

" We never were, we are not now, and for a long time to 
come we can not be, a unique and homogeneous people. The 
colonies which preceded our states were off-shoots from an 
imperfect European civilization. England, Ireland, Scotland, 
Wales, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Holland, 
and Sweden, contributed the original elements of population ; 
with these were mingled the natives of the continent, and com- 
pulsory immigration from the wilds of Africa. The disasters 
and privations of the Old World cause this flood of immigration 
to continue with daily -increasing volume, and our settlement on 
the Pacific will soon become the gate for a similar flow from the 
worn-out civilization of Asia. Our twenty millions are expand- 



THE CLEVELAND SPEECH. 125 

ing to two liuiulred millions — our originally narrow domain into 
a great empire. Its destiny is to renovate the condition of man- 
kind. 

" The first principle of our duty as American citizens is to pre- 
serve the integrity of the Union. Without the Union, there 
would be not only a want of harmony of action, but collisions 
and conflicts ending in anarchy or probably in despotism. This 
Union must be a voluntary one, and not compulsory. A Union 
upheld by force Avould be despotism. 

" The second principle of American citizenship is, that our 
democratic system must be preserved and perfected. That sys- 
tem is founded in the natural equality of all men — not alone all 
American men, nor alone all white men, but all MEN of every 
country, clime, and complexion, are equal — not made equal by 
human laws, but born equal. It results from this that every 
man permanently residing in a community is a member of the 
state, obliged to submit to its rule, and therefore entitled equally 
with every other man to participate in its government. If it be 
a monarchy, he has a right to keep a musket to defend himself 
when the government becomes intolerable. If it be a democ- 
racy, where consent is substituted for force, he has a right to 
a ballot for the same purpose ; and each should be placed in his 
hands (he being a resident) when he is able to speed the bullet 
or cast the ballot with discretion. Whatever institutions or laws 
we have existing among us which deny this principle, are wrong, 
and ought to be corrected. 

"A third principle of American citizenship is, that knowledge 
ought to be diffused, as well for the safety of the state, as to 
promote the happiness of society. 

*'A fourth principle is, that our national resources, physical, 
moral, and intellectual, ought to be developed and applied to 
increase the public wealth, and enhance the convenience and 
comfort of the people. 

"A fifth principle is, that peace and moderation are indispen- 
sable to the preservation of republican institutions. 

"A sixth principle is, that slavery must be abolished. 

" I think these are the principles of the whigs-of the Western 
Reserve of Ohio. I am not now to say for the first time that 



126 THE CLEVELAND SPEECH. 

they are mine. I imbibed them from the philosophy of the 
American Revolution — 

"Soon as the eliaritj of my native land 
Wrought in my bosom,' 



"There are two antagonistical elements of society in America, 
freedom and slavery. Freedom is in harmony with our system 
of government and with the spirit of the age, and is therefore 
passive and quiescent. Slavery is in conflict with that system, 
with justice, and with humanity, and is therefore organized, de- 
fensive, active, and perpetually aggressive. 

" Freedom insists on the emancipation and elevation of labor ; 
slavery demands a soil moistened with tears and blood — free- 
dom a soil that exults under the elastic tread of man in his na- 
tive majesty. 

" These elements divide and classify the American people 
into two parties. Each of these parties has its court and its 
sceptre. The throne of the one is amid the rocks of the Alle- 
gany mountains ; the throne of the other is reared on the sands 
of South Carolina. One of these parties, the party of slavery, 
regards disunion as among the means of defence, and not ahvays 
the last to be employed. The other maintains the Union of the 
states, one and inseparable, now and for ever, as the highest 
dut}'- of the American people to themselves, to posterity, to 
mankind. 

*' The party of slavery upholds an aristocracy founded on the 
humiliation of labor, as necessary to the perfection of a chival- 
rous republic. The party of freedom maintains universal suf- 
frage, which makes men equal before human laws, as they are 
in the sight of their common Creator. 

" The party of slavery cherishes ignorance, because it is the 
only security for oppression. The party of liberty demands the 
diffusion of knowledge, because it is the only safeguard of re- 
publican institutions. 

" The party of slavery patronizes labor which produces only 
exports to commercial nations abroad — tobacco, cotton, and 
sugar — and abhors the protection that draws grain from our na- 
tive fields, lumber from our native forests, iron and coal from our 



THE CLEVELAND SPEECH. 127 

native mines, and ingenuity, skill, and labor, from the free minds 
and willing hands of our own people. 

" The party of freedom favors only the productions of such 
minds and such hands, and seeks to build up our empire out of 
the redundant native materials with which our country is 
blest. 

" The party of slavery leaves the mountain ravine and shoal 
to present all their natural obstacles to internal trade and free 
locomotion, because railroads, rivers, and canals, are highways 
for the escape of bondsmen. 

" The party of liberty would cover the country with railroads 
and canals, to promote the happiness of the people, and bind 
them together with the indissoluble bonds of interest and affec- 
tion. 

" The party of slavery maintains its military defences, and 
cultivates the martial spirit, for it knows not the day nor the 
hour when a standing army will not be necessary to suppress 
and extirpate the insurrectionary bondsmen. 

" The party of freedom cherishes peace, because its sway is 
sustained by the consent of a happy and grateful people. 

" The party of slavery fortifies itself by adding new slave- 
bound domain on fraudulent pretexts and Avith force. 

" The party of freedom is content and moderate, seeking only 
a just enlargement of free territory. 

" The party of slavery declares that institution necessary, 
beneficent, and approved of God, and therefore inviolable. 

" The party of freedom seeks complete and universal emanci- 
pation. 

" You, whigs of the Reserve, and you especially, seceding 
whigs, none know so well as you that these two elements exist 
and are developed in the two great national parties of the land, 
as I have described them. That existence and development 
constitute the only reason you can assign for having been en- 
rolled in the whig party, and mustered under its banner so 
zealously and so long. And now I am not to contend that the 
evil spirit I have described has possessed the one party without 
mitigation or exception, and that the beneficent one has on all 
occasions, and fully, directed the action of the other. But I ap- 
peal to you, to your candor and justice, whether the beneficent 



128 THE CLEVELAND SPEECH. 

spirit lias not worked chiefly in the whig- party, and its antago- 
nist in the adverse party, 

******** 

"You infer that the wliig party have fallen away from their 
ancient faith. I admit its comparative unsoundness. I confess 
it, but it is still the truest and most faithful of the two parties, and 
one or the other of them must prevail. The unsoundness of 
both arises from the fault of the country and of the age. Nei- 
ther was ever more sound and faithful than it is now : it is your 
duty and mine to make them both more faithful. 

" Slavery was once the sin, not of some of the states only, but 
of them all — not of our nation only, but of all nations. It per- 
verted and corrupted the moral sense of mankind, deeply, uni- 
versally; and this corruption became a universal habit. Habits 
of thought became fixed principles. No American state has yet 
delivered itself entirely from those habits. We in New York 
are guilty of slavery still, by withholding the right of suffrage 
from the race Ave have emancipated. You in Ohio are guilty in 
the same way, by a system of black-laws, still more aristocratic 
and odious. It is written in the constitution of the United States 
that five slaves shall count equal to three free men, as a basis 
of representation ; and it is written also, in violation of the 
Divine law, that we shall surrender the fugitive slave who takes 
refuge at our fireside from his relentless pursuers. 'You blush 
not at these things, because they have become familiar as house- 
hold words, and your pretended free-soil allies claim particular 
merit for maintaining these miscalled guaranties of slavery 
which they find in the national compact. 

" Does not all this prove that the whig party has kept up 
with the spirit of the age — that it is as true and faithful to 
human freedom as the inert conscience of the American people 
will permit it to be 1 

" ' What, then !' you say, ' can nothing be done for freedom 
because the public conscience is inert V * Yes, much can be done 
— everything can be done. . Slavery can be limited to its .pres- 
ent bounds, it can be ameliorated, it can be and must be abal- 
ished, and you and I can and must do it. The task is as simple 
and easy as its consummation Avill be beneficent and its rewards 
glorious. It requires only to follow this simple rule of action, 



THE CLEVELAND SPEECH. 129 

viz. ; to do everywhere and on every occasion what Ave can, and 
not to neglect or refuse to do what we can at any time, because 
at that precise time and on that particular occasion we can not 
do more. Circumstances determine possibilities. When we 
have done our best to shape them and make them propitious, 
we may rest satisfied that superior Wisdom has determined their 
foi-m as they exist, and will be satisfied with us if we then do 
all the good that circumstances leave in our power. But we 
must begin deeper and lower than in the composition and com- 
bination of factions and pa'rties. Wherein do the strength and 
security of slavery lie ? You answer that they lie in the consti- 
tution of the United States, and the constitution and laws of 
all slaveholding states. Not at all. They lie in the erroneous 
sentiment of the American people. Constitutions and laws can 
no more rise above the virtue of the people than the limpid 
stream can climb above its native spring. Inculcate, then, the 
love of freedom and the equal rights of man, under the paternal 
roof; see to it that they are taught in the schools and in the 
churches ; reform your own code — extend a cordial welcome to 
the fugitive who lays his Aveary limbs at your door, and defend 
him as you would your paternal gods -, correct your own error, 
that slavery has any constitutional guaranty which may not be 
released, and ought not to be relinquished. Say to Slavery, 
when it shows its bond and demands the pound of flesh, that if 
it draws one drop of blood, its life shall pay the forfeit. In- 
culcate that free states can maintain the rights of hospitality 
and of humanity ; that executive authority can forbear to favor 
slavery; that Congress can debate; that Congress at least can 
mediate with the slaveholding states, that at least future genera- 
tions might be bought and given up to freedom, and that the 
treasures wasted in the war with Mexico would have been sufii- 
cient to have redeemed millions unborn from bondage. Do all 
this and inculcate all this in the spirit of moderation and benev- 
olence, and not of retaliation and fanaticism, and you will soon 
bring the parties of the country into an effective aggression upon 
slavery. Whenever the public mind shall will the abolition of 
slavery, the way will open for it. 

" I know that you will tell me that this is nil too slow. Well, 
then, go faster, if you can, and I will go with you ; but reniera- 



130 THE CLEVELAND SPEECH. 

ber the instructive lesson that was tang-ht in the words, " These 
things onglit ye to have done, and not to have left the others 
undone." Remember that the liberty party tried the unattain- 
able, overlooking the attainable, and now has compromised and 
surrendered tlie principle of immediate emancipation for a coa- 
lition to effect a practicable measure which can only be defeated 
by that coalition. Eemember that no human work is done with- 
out preparation. God works out his sublimest purposes among 
men Avith preparation. There was a voice of one crying in 
the wilderness, * Prepare ye the way,' before the Son of man 
could come. There was a John before a Jesus ; there was a 
baptism of water before the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of 
fire." 

All Mr. Seward's speeches during this campaign w^ere 
full of tbe same sentiments. In the cities of Boston, Phila- 
delphia, and New York as well as among the yeomanry of 
Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio, he spoke the same lan- 
guage, and the demonstrations of concurrence were equally 
hearty and unanimous in city and country. 

In one of these speeches he alludes to the nomination of 
General Taylor in preference to Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster 
in the following words : — 

" What is the presidency of the United States compared with 
the fame of a patriot statesman who triumphs over popular in- 
justice and establishes his country on the sure foundations of 
freedom and empire V* 

* See Vol. III., p. 305. 



ELECTED SENATOR. 131 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

PRESIDENT TAYLOR MR. SEWARD ELECTED SENATOR — GEN- 
ERAL Taylor's policy — mr. seward's course and 

SPEECHES THE HIGHER LAW THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 

SPEECHES ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS YISIT TO VERMONT 

AGRICULTURAL ADDRESS CANADA. 

The election of General Taylor to the presidency seemed 
to be a favorable indication for the policy of freedom, that 
had been so earnestly defended by Governor Seward. 
Connected with the return of a whig majority both in the 
national house of representatives and the legislature of New 
York, that event was supposed to guaranty the restriction 
of slavery within its existing boundaries and the establish- 
ment of a free domain along the gulf of Mexico, and across 
the continent to the Pacific ocean. Under these circum- 
stances, Governor Seward was elected to the senate of tlie 
United States, in place of Hon. John A. Dix, whose term 
was about to expire. The vote of the legislature, which 
was given in February, 1849, stood — for Governor Sewai'd 
121, and for all others 30. This was an unusually large 
majority, there being no serious ppposition to his election. 
He entered the thirty-first Congress, together with thirty- 
three othem whig members, and one democratic member, 
from the state of New York, who, in accordance with the 
prevailing sentiment of the state, were all understood to 
agree with him in the policy of circumscribing the region 
of slavery. 

On arriving at Washington, in February before the com- 
mencement of his senatorial term, Mr. Seward found 
Congress engaged on an amendment to the civil and diplo- 
matic appropriation bill, proposed by Mr. Walker, of wlii'^J- 



132 GEN. TAYLOR AND MR. SEWARD. 

the effect would be to abrogate the laws of Mexico for the 
prohibition of slavery. This amendment had already 
passed tlie senate, but Mr. Seward, with characteristic 
energy, exerted himself to secure its defeat in the house. 
His efforts were successful ; the amendment was lost in the 
house, after a long and excited debate ; the senate receded 
from it, on the last night of the session.* 

The sagacity of President Taylor, on his accession to of- 
fice was signally displayed in his choice of Mr. Seward 
as one of his most intimate friends and counsellors. Fa- 
miliar with all the elements of northern society, with every 
aspect of public opinion, and the feelings and interests of 
the people — conversant witli civil affairs as a jurist and 
statesman — cherishing a lofty sense of honor and a gener- 
ous sympathy with popular rights — courteous and tolerant 
toward his opponents, though rigidly faithful to his convic- 
tions — inspired with a glowing sentiment both of patriotism 
and humanity — and ardently devoted to the support of the 
federal Union — he was eminently qualified to promote the 
welfare of his country in the responsible function of adviser 
to the president. With a delicate sense of propriety, while 
thus enjoying the confidence of President Taylor, he declined 
being placed on any important committee of the senate, 
lest it might be supposed, on some occasions, that he acted 
authoritatively in his behalf. He was unwilling to embar- 
rass the administration by any sectional prejudices against 
liimself, but wished quietly to bring the aid of his wisdoin 
and experience to the support of its liead. 

He concurred with President Taylor in his !\ivitation to 
California and New Mexico to organize state governments 
and apply for admission into the Union at the next session 
of Congress. The suggestion of the president was adopt- 
ed. As Mr. Seward had anticipated, California appeared 
by her senators and representatives at the commencement 
of the congressional session in December, 1849, with a 

* See Vol. III., p. 443. 



THE HIGHER LAW. 133 

constitution excluding slavery. It was understood that 
New Mexico was preparing to come with a similar consti- 
tution. 

To Mr. Seward belongs the authorship of the phrase 
— the Higher Laiu — which has acquired a fame that will 
never die. It was used by him in his speech in the senate, 
March 11, 1850, on the admission of California into the 
Union.* 

This speech was unanimously acknowledged to be a bold, 
manly, and profound production. Lucid and consecutive 
in argument, learned in historical and philosophical illus- 
trations, with a chaste elegance of diction, it was not sur- 
passed for sound statesmanship and an acute exposition of 
the principles of natural and constitutional law, by any 
speech delivered in the senate on the absorbing subject of 
freedom in the territories. 

The enemies of Mr. Seward at once accused him of 
maintaining the existence of a Higher Law, in opposition 
to the constitution, by which the new domain of California 
was devoted to justice, liberty, and union. But this was a 
flagrant misrepresentation of his language, which embodied 
a truth, that none but the grossest materialists and skeptics 
can call in question. No enlightened ethical philosopher, 
no man of ordinary religious feeling and conscientiousness, 
will deny that there is a law higher than political constitu- 
tions and human legislation, " the law which governs all 
law — the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, 
equity, the law of nature and of nations." Nor will it be 
doubted, that in case of a conflict between divine and human 
law, " we ought to obey God, rather than man." But it 
was not the purpose of Mr. Seward on that occasion, 
to repeat a principle so plain as this. The phrase as used 
by him on the floor of the senate would hardly seem capa- 
ble of such misconstruction as has been given to it. We 
quote his words, precisely as they were spoken: — 

* S.;'e Vol. I., p. 51. 



134 THE HIGHER LAW. 

" It is true, indeed, that the national domain is ours. It is 
true it was acquired by the valor and with the wealth of the 
whole nation. But we hold, nevertheless, no arbitrary power 
over it. We hold no arbitrary authority over anything, whether 
acquired lawfully or seized by usurpation. The constitution 
regulates our stewardship ; the constitution devotes the domain 
to union, to justice, to defence, to welfare, and to liberty. But 
there is a Higher Law than the constitution, Avhich regulates 
our authority over the domain, and devotes it to the same nolle 
piirposes. The territory is a part, no inconsiderable part, of the 
common heritage of mankind, bestowed upon them by the Cre- 
ator of the universe. We are his stewards, and must so dis- 
charge our trust as to secure in the highest attainable degree 
their happiness." 

Every intelligent reader will perceive that while Mr. 
Seward devoutly recognises the law of God, and its 
paramount claims both on individuals and nations, he was 
far from asserting a contradiction between that law and the 
American constitution on the subject in question. On the 
contrary, he declares that they agree in demanding freedom 
and justice for the new domain. Can any wise statesman, 
can any far-seeing patriot, can any friend of human improve- 
ment, deny the soundness of this position ? 

But let us not be misunderstood. In vindicating Mr. 
Seward from the aspersions which were brought upon 
him by the expression alluded to, it is far from our inten- 
tion to disclaim for him a belief that the obligation of hu- 
man laws is founded on their harmony with the principles 
of eternal justice. He is no adherent of the superficial and 
wretched philosophy which derives the distinctions of moral- 
ity from the caprices of opinion. In common with the 
greatest thinkers of all ages, he traces the obligation of 
right to the uncreated wisdom of the Deity. With Plato 
and Cicero, in ancient times, with Bacon, Hooker, and 
Cudworth, at a later date, he recognises the bosom of the 
Deity as the seat and fountain of law — "whose voice is 
the harmony of the world." This ennobling idea pervades 



THE COMPROMISE BILL. 135 

the writings of Mr. Seward— it is the pivot of his pcr^ 
sonal character, as well as of liis public and legislative 
career. Among other instances of its operation, we find it 
in an argument, in 184T, relating to the fugitive slave law 
ofl793, wher) he uses the following striking expression: 
" Congress has no power to inhil)it any duty commanded by 
God on Mount Sinai, or by his son on the Mount of Olives."* 
In a subsequent speech in the senate he alludes to tlie 
personal abuse which these sentiments had excited, in the 
following firm but dignified language: — 

'' I do not propose to reply to what is personal in the remarks 
of the honorable senator. I have notliiug of a personal charac- 
ter to say. There is no man in this land vvlio is of sufficient 
importance to this country and to mankind, to justify his con- 
sumption of five minutes of the time of the senate of the United 
States, with personal explanations relating to himself. The 
speeches which I have made here, under a rule of the senate, 
are recorded, and what is recorded has gone before the people 
and will go, worthy or not, into history. I leave them to man- 
kind. I stand by what I have said. That is all I have to say 
upon that subject. 

The senator proposes to expel me. I am ready to meet that 
trial too ; and if I shall be expelled, I shall not be the first man 
subjected to punishment for maintaining that there is a pov/er 
higher than human law, and that that power delights in justice ; 
that rulers, whether despots or elected rulers of a free people, 
are bound to administer justice for the benefit of society. Sen- 
ators, when they please to bring me for trial, or otherwise, be- 
fore the senate of the United States, will find a clear and ojien 
field. I ask no other defence than the speeches upon wliich 
they propose to condemn me. The speeches will read for them- 
selves, and they will need no comment from me." 

During the discussion of the '' Compromise Bill," Mr. 
Seward addressed the senate, July 2, 1850, in a speechf 
remarkable for the vigor of its dialectics, its comprehensive 

* See Forensic Argntnents, Parks vs. Van Zandt, Vol. I., p. 4*76. 
f See Vol. L, \.. 94. 



136 SPEECHES IN THE SENATE. 

and sagacious statesraanshi|), and its noble zeal for freedom, 
as well as for the appositeness of its classical illustrations, 
and the polished beauty of its style. His exposition of the 
dangers and evils of the compromise is in a strain of mas- 
terly eloquence. After appealing to the wisdom of his 
auditors to adopt the true principle of conciliation by grad- 
ual reform, he closed his remarks with one of those genuine 
touches of poetry which often flash over the severity of his 
argumentative discourse. " We shall then realize once 
more the concord which results from mutual league, united 
councils, and equal hopes and hazards in the most sublime 
and beneficent enterprise the earth has witnessed. The 
fingers of the powers above would tune the harmony of 
such a peace." 

This speech was succeeded by speeches on " New Mex- 
ico," and '^ Freedom in the District of Columbia,"* in which 
Mr. Seward displayed his usual elevation of thought in 
applying the principles of universal justice to the main- 
tenance of human rights. In January, 1851, Mr. Sew- 
ard delivered a speech on the question of " Indemnities 
for French Spoliations,"! giving a luminous analysis of the 
whole subject, accompanied with ample historical proofs, 
and eloquently enforcing the necessity of justice and good 
faith to national honor. The state that would be prosper- 
ous must be free from the burden of violated engagements. 
The people that would dwell in safety, without fear for fire- 
side, fane, or capitol, must practise an austere and pure 
morality — must embody in their daily lives the spirit of 
the eternal law through which " the most ancient heavens 
are fresh and strong." 

The next important topic on which Mr. Seward ad- 
dressed the senate was the " Public Domain." J In his 
speech on this subject, February 27, 1851, without main- 
taining the absurdity that the land of any country ouglit 

* See Vol. I., p. Ul. f See YoL I., p. 132. 

X See Vol. I., p. 156. 



SPEECHES FREEDOM IN EUROPE. 137 

to l)e, or can be, equally divided and enjoyed, he shows the 
evils arising to the highest interests of society from great 
inequalities in landed estates. His views of the gratuitous 
distribution of portions of the public domain to actual set- 
tlers, although they may fail to win the sympathy of poli- 
ticians, are marked by equal humanity and good sense, and 
will challenge the attention of all intelligent friends of 
social progress. 

In December, 1851, Mr. Seward submitted a reso- 
lution to the senate, in favor of a cordial welcome by 
Congress to Kossuth, to be communicated by the president 
as the executive organ of the United States. His senti- 
ments in regard to the illustrious champion of Hungary are 
expressed in two speeches on the subject, which handle the 
objections of the opponents to the resolution with a good- 
humored severity of argument, and a remarkable terseness 
of language, while they present the claims of Kossuth to the 
admiration of American freemen, in a style of fervid elo- 
quence that is equally touching in its pathos and convincing 
in its appeals.* 

During the following February, the discussion of Mr. 
Foote's resolution, declaring the sympathy of Congress 
with the exiled Irish patriots, Smith O'Brien and Thomas 
F. Meagher, came up in the senate, when Mr. Seward 
took occasion to express his deep interest in the welfare of 
Ireland, enforcing his views with his usual vigor of argu- 
ment and liveliness of illustration.! This was succeeded 
in March by a speech on "Freedom in Europe," in which 
he presents an admirable sketch of the Hungarian revolu- 
tion, discusses the neutral policy of AYashington in regard 
to foreign nations, explains the true character of interven- 
tion, and argues at length in its defence. The tone of this 
speech is lofty and severe, and in some passages rises to 
an almost Miltonic grandeur. J 

* See Vol. I., p. 172. f See Vol. I., p. 186. 

X See Vol. L, p. 196. 



138 SPEECHES THEIR CHARACTER. 

The next speeches of Mr. Seward in the senate were 
on " American Steam Navigation,"* " Survey of the Arc- 
tic and Pacific Oceans,"f and " The American Fisher- 
ies." J A peculiar value attaches to these speeches from 
their eminently practical character, the variety and accu- 
racy of the statistics which they embody, their clear and 
cogent reasonings on the facts they present, the intimate 
knowledge which they exhibit of the commercial and in- 
dustrial relations of the country, and the enlightened and 
glowing patriotism with which they are inspired. To 
the admirers of Mr. Seward they are of no less interest, 
on account of their fine illustrations both of his mental 
habits and his personal character. In the action of his 
intellect, patience, and depth of research, a constant aim 
at the integral unity of the subject, a logical grouping 
of particulars in reference to a future pregnant inference, 
and a singular self-possession in the exercise of judgment, 
ever serve as the basis which underlies the expression of a 
masculine and generous enthusiasm and an earnest-hearted 
sympathy with all that is beautiful in the progress, or 
sacred in the hopes of collective humanity. 

Immediately after the adjournment of Congress, Mr.. 
Seward delivered the first anniversary address before the 
Agricultural Society of the state of Vermont, at Rutland, 
on the 2d of September, 1852. 

As nothing could be more grateful or more just, so we 
are sure nothing could be more sincere than the following 
tribute, paid by him to that state, in the opening of this 
interesting address : — 

"Citizens of Vermont: — Ladies and Gentlemen: A 
schoolmaster from Middlebmy taught me to read the glowing 
praises and simple maxims of Homan agriculture recorded in 
the pages of Virgil. Natives of Rutland and Bennington were 
among my youthful companions and early patrons, still affec- 
tionately and gratefully remembered. Long ago I seemed to 
myself to have imbibed — I know not when nor how — many 

* See Vol. I., p. 222. f See Vol. I., p. 236. X See Vol. I., p. 254. 



VISIT TO VERMONT — ADDRESS. 139 

principles, sentiments, and sympathies, from fountains of pliilos- 
opliy and feeling wliicli bad been opened early, and wbicb are 
yet flowing freely here in Vermont. Longer tban I can recollect, 
my hopes for my country and mankind have had their anchor- 
age in the ever-widening prevalence of those maxims of politi- 
cal justice and equal liberty which have been always maintained 
with unyielding constancy in this state, the Tyrol of America. 
I have wondered often, when such memories as these have come 
over me, that although I had not been quite unused to travel, 
and had lived always near, yet I was nevertheless a stranger in 
Vermont. Long-delayed wishes of mine are now gratified. I 
am at last in Vermont. I pay to her mountains the homage 
which the sublime in nature exacts ; and to her mountaineers I 
confess that my motive in coming was not so much to instruct 
them as to seek their personal acquaintance, and to thank them 
for precious and cherished instructions which they have long- 
since imparted to me. 

*' These, then, are ' the grants' sold by New Hampshire with- 
out title, and won by force from New York when she perverted 
title to purposes of oppression. In lime and marble they are 
rich, and in forest-growth and in pasturage, at least, they are 
fertile ; and the vigorous play of the elastic air upon lungs which 
had become languid under southern skies, assures me that they 
are as healthful as they are romantic and beautiful. Neverthe- 
less, it must have been no easy task that the settler performed 
here when he removed the sturdy trees and massive rocks, and 
opened the dank and festering soil to the light and heat of the 
morning sun. It was no common bravery that kept the savage 
Indian at bay while exterminating the wolf and the panther; 
and no common heroism that, while engaged in the foremost 
ranks' of the Revolution for the deliverance of New York and 
the other colonies from British power, effected a revolution also 
against New York, and established the independence of Vermont 
herself. I think, indeed, that, at this day, men as hardy, brave, 
and heroic, as Ethan Allen and his followers — if tliere be 
such — would pass by regions as rugged and wild as of old these 
must have been, to find, with less fatigue and danger, easier 
and more attractive homes on the Mississippi prairies, or on the 
golden terraces of California and Oregon. 



140 VISIT TO CANADA. 

" Certainly the descenclants Iiave carried on with perseverance 
and success the enterprise their ancestors so bravely began. 
Their fields are clean, and a stiff stubble shows that they have 
been covered well with grain ; their pasturages carefully drained, 
and trodden by sheep, horses, and cattle — than which I am 
sure there are none better ; their villages embellished with gar- 
dens, and crowned with schools and colleges ; and their states- 
men discharging useful and honorable functions in the national 
councils and in foreign courts. I can not, indeed, suppress 
repining regret that so fair a portion of my native state was lost 
for ever by the obstinate persistence of her authorities in claims 
which, although based on royal constitutions, were without neces- 
sary foundation in equity. Nevertheless, looking upon the' 
scenes that stretch out before me, as we may suppose an Eng- 
lishman, who loves his native land well, but loves freedom and 
humanity still better, may look upon the growing greatness and 
spreading dominion of our common country, I say again, with 
cheerfulness and enthusiasm, hail to Vermont ! Her indepen- 
dence was justly and bravely won. She has chosen a peaceful 
and beneficent mission, and she fulfills it faithfully and gen- 
erously. May her prosperity continue, and her glory increase 
forever!"* 

After a pleasant sojourn of several days in Vermont, 
receiving many manifestations of courtesy and respect in 
various parts of the state, Mr. Seward extended his journey 
to Montreal and Quebec. The provincial parliament was 
then in session at Quebec ; and he was entertained by its 
members, as well as by the governor-general (Lord Elgin) 
and other authorities, in a manner which evinced a high 
consideration for him as a statesman, and the mo§t frater- 
nal feelings toward the country of which he was regarded 
as a representative. 

* See Vol. Ill, p. 176. 



THE EXTENSION OP SLAVERY. 141 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OP 1852 THE SLAVERY CON- 
TEST OF 1850 DEATH OP PRESIDENT TAYLOR HIS SUC- 
CESSOR OVERTHROW OP THE WHIG PARTY CAUSES 

RESULTS, ETC. 

The presidential election of 1852 is yet so recent, that 
its incidents can be recalled without difficulty. The suc- 
cess of the whig party in the free states, during the contest 
of 1848, was promoted by the assurance that it would pre- 
vent the introduction of slavery into the new territories, 
where it was already prohibited by the Mexican laws. The 
representatives of the free states in Congress were under- 
stood to be pledged to that wise and beneficent policy. It 
was assumed that the new president would not interpose 
the executive veto, should that policy be adopted. Mr. 
Seward was committed in its favor, both by the circum- 
stances of his election, and the well-known tenor of his 
political life. On the meeting of Congress in December, 
1849, several whig members from the South apprehended 
the adoption of that policy, and refused to unite with their 
northern brethren in the choice of a speaker. After delay- 
ing the organization of the house for a number of weeks, 
they finally joined with their political opponents, and 
elected a democratic speaker from one of the slaveholding 
states. As soon as the house was organized, the southern 
party demanded the establishment of the new territories, 
without any condition as to the introduction of slavery. 
The representatives of the free states earnestly protested 
against this course. Mr. Seward took an active part in 
the opposition. Faithful to their convictions, they insisted 
on the insertion of the Wilmot proviso (which was identical 



142 CLAY, WEBSTER, AND CASS, 

in its spirit with Mr. Jefferson's proviso in the ordinance 
of 1787) in any act ordaining the government of the terri- 
tories. The president took a middle ground in his message 
to Congress. He recommended that the territories should 
be left, without any preliminary organization, under the 
existing Mexican laws, until they should have obtained the 
requisite population to form voluntary constitutions, and 
apply for admission as states of the Union. California and 
New Mexico were already taking measures for this purpose. 
The recommendation of the president was condemned by 
the slave states, while it met the approval of the friends 
of freedom. At an early period it was opposed by Mr. 
Clay. After great reserve and deliberation, Mr. Webster 
subsequently declared his hostility to the proposed meas- 
ure. Mr. Seward, who upheld the recommendation, thus 
became the leader of the administration party in both 
houses of Congress. The antagonists of slavery with whom 
he co-operated, though a minority in the senate, had a 
decided majority in the house of representatives. Each 
branch of Congress became the scene of vehement debate. 
The slaveholding party indulged in such violent and intlam- 
matory language as to threaten the derangeniei;t of public 
business, and even the disorganization of Congress. This 
party was sustained by the Nashville convention — a body 
of southern delegates assembled for the purpose of adopt- 
ing measures for the secession of the slave states from the 
Union. But neither President Taylor nor Mr. Seward was 
intimidated by these proceedings. They both persisted in 
the course, which was sanctioned alike by judgment and 
conscience. Mr. Clay, on the other hand, believed that 
the existence of the Union was at stake. Sustained by 
Mr. Webster, he consented to adopt the non-intervention 
policy, the avowal of which by General Cass had made him 
the candidate of the democratic party in the late presiden- 
tial election. He now brought forward his famous com- 
promise scheme, and urged its adoption with all the force 



COMPROMISE OF I80O. 143 

of his glowing and persuasive eloquence. Appealing to 
the sentiment of patriotism, to the prevailing attaclimcnt to 
the Union, and to the love of peace, he represented the 
acceptance of his measures as essential to the final settle- 
ment of the issues which had grown out of the existence of 
slavery in the United States. Mr. Clay's views were sus- 
tained by the leading advocates of slavery in Congress. 
For the most part, these belonged to the democratic party. 
They were pledged to insist on a Congressional declaration 
of the right of slaveholders to carry their slaves into any 
of the territories of the United States. But the compro- 
mise was opposed by most of the representatives of the 
free states, who were determined to make no further con- 
cessions besides those involved in the position taken by 
President Taylor. The whigs of the slave states, on the 
other hand, gave it their hearty support. It was defended 
also by the more especial friends of Mr. Clay and Mr. Web- 
ster, among the whigs of the Xorth, as well as by a large 
portion of the democratic party in the free states. The 
more conservative classes in the great northern cities were 
induced to give it their support, through fear of the loss 
of southern trade and patronage, and a growing discontent 
with the policy of the new administration. The friends of 
the compromise endeavored to arouse the fears of the peo- 
ple, by showing the danger of a dissolution of the Union, 
which was threatened, as they alleged, by the policy of 
President Taylor. Mr. Seward, of course, was denounced 
as a desperate and dangerous agitator. His resistance to 
the compromise was represented as a contumacy. He was 
accused of wishing to obtain personal aggrandizement, even 
upon the ruins of the constitution and the wreck of the 
Union. These reproaches were not without eflect. They 
produced a partial division of the whig party in the free 
states, and awakened a prejudice in many quarters against 
the name of Mr. Seward. But he was not shaken from 
his steadfastness. Witli admirable firmness and self-])0S- 



144 THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE BILL. 

session, he nobly resisted the current of popular agitation 
and Congressional excitement. The dignity of his bearing 
and the wisdom of his counsels, during this stormy period, 
receive ample illustration from his published " Works," as 
well as from many pages of the present volume. 

The first applicant for admission into the Union was 
California, which had adopted a free constitution in a gen- 
eral convention. The friends of the compromise refused 
to grant her demand, except on certain stringent conditions. 
They insisted that Congress should waive a similar prohi- 
bition of slavery in organizing the territories of Utah and 
New Mexico, and at the same time enact a new and offen- 
sive law for the capture of fugitive slaves in the free states. 
Mr. Seward demanded the admission of California, without 
condition and without qualification, leaving other subjects 
to distinct and independent legislation. No fair-minded 
man, it would seem, could doubt the wisdom or justice of 
such a course. The partisans of the compromise contended 
that Utah and New Mexico should be organized, without a 
prohibition of slavery, at the very moment when the latter 
was known to have adopted a free constitution, and to have 
chosen representatives to demand admission into the Union. 
On this question, Mr. Seward maintained that New Mexico 
should either be admitted into the Union as a free state, or 
left to enjoy the protection from slavery afforded by the 
existing Mexican laws. 

The fugitive-slave law, which was proposed as a con- 
dition of the admission of California, met with a determined 
opponent in Mr. Seward, from the first. He clearly fore- 
saw the impolicy, as well as the cruelty of the contemplated 
measure. He argued with no less humanity than good 
faith, that no public exigency required a new law on the 
subject — that the bill in question was as unconstitutional as 
it was repugnant to every just sentiment — and that the 
principles and habits of the northern people would place 
every obstacle in the way of its execution. Admitting the 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. 145 

justice of these views, the compromisers demanded that 
they should be set aside, lest the determination of the slave- 
holders should lead to a dissolution of the Union. Mr. 
Seward was incapable of yielding to such unworthy terrors. 
He constantly passed them by, as too trivial for serious 
notice. At the same time, he urgently pointed out the 
danger of quailing before the threats of the South. Know- 
ing the dispositions engendered by slavery, he insisted that 
any craven truckling on the part of the free states, would 
lead to unbounded aggressions by the slave power in the 
future. With prophetic sagacity, he was enabled to cast 
the horoscope of coming ills, which have since been realized 
in the legislation concerning Kansas and Nebraska. 

The compromisers regarded their measures as essential 
to the suppression of the slavery agitation in the national 
councils, and to the permanent tranquillity of the Union. 
Mr. Seward maintained precisely the opposite views. He 
insisted that the extension of slavery was too great a price 
to pay even for the attainment of peace — that a peace pur- 
chased on such terms, would be only a hollow truce — that 
it would soon be disturbed by new and deeper agitations — 
that freedom and slavery were essentially antagonistic in 
their nature — and that no reconciliation could be effectual, 
until the latter should abandon its pretensions to new terri- 
tories, and new conquests. The soundness of Mr. Seward's 
opinions have been confirmed by subsequent events. The 
exciting congressional discussion of the subject continued 
for several months. Its effect was favorable to the policy 
of President Taylor and Mr. Seward. It promised to guar- 
anty the establishment of free institutions, unvitiated by 
the presence of slavery, to the vast possessions between the 
organized states and the Pacific ocean. 

An unforeseen casualty changed the fortunes of the con- 
flict. President Taylor died in the month of July, 1850, and 
by the terms of the constitution, Millard Fillmore, the vice- 
president, was advanced to the executive chair of the 

7 



146 PRESIDENT Fillmore's course. 

United States. A citizen of the state of New York, he had 
already exhibited symptoms of jealousy, in regard to the 
influence of Mr. Seward — a feeling which was shared by 
many of his friends. At the same time, he was understood 
to concur with Mr. Seward in the general principles of 
policy, which had guided the course of the latter on the 
slavery question. Mr. Seward advised the new president 
to retain the cabinet of General Taylor, and endeavor to 
carry out his views. But this course was in direct opposi- 
tion to the plan of the compromisers. They urged the im- 
portance of abandoning the policy hitherto pursued, and of 
appointing a cabinet committed to their own. Mr. Fill- 
more accepted their advice. His administration was, in 
reality, founded on the principles of the party, which his 
election had defeated. Of course, it relied for support on 
a coalition between the members of that party, and so many 
of his own, as could be gained to his views. Soon after 
this change in the executive, many of the opponents of the 
compromise fell off from the side of Mr. Seward, while 
others attempted to steer a middle course, expressing 
themselves in language of moderation, or preservdng a total 
silence. Although the compromise bill itself was defeated, 
the measures which it embodied were submitted to a sepa- 
rate discussion and successively passed. The whigs of the 
free states were thrown into perplexity by this sadden 
change. The coalition demanded the acceptance of the 
compromise as the final adjustment of the slavery contro- 
versy. No favors were to be expected from the adminis- 
tration by those who failed to comply with the terms. A 
refusal was deemed sufficient evidence of disloyalty to the 
government, and of hostility to the Union. But Mr. Sew- 
ard was not influenced by the motives thus held out. His 
opposition to the compromise measures was unabated. He 
gave no heed to the denunciations of power. For the pres- 
ent, the vital question had been settled in Congress. It 
had now passed over to the tribunal of the country. In 



THE BALTIMORE CONVENTIONS. 147 

fact, it waited the judgment of the civilized world. Mr. 
Seward was unwilling to expose himself for a moment to 
the danger of misapprehension. He neglected no proper 
occasion to declare his adherence to the convictions and 
principles which he had expressed throughout the congres- 
sional debates ; although he declined to engage in any de- 
fence or explanation of his course amid the excitement of 
popular assemblies. 

The question of slavery, in its comprehensive bearings, 
formed the turning point in the presidential canvass of 
1852, which resulted as will be seen in the election of Mr. 
Pierce, and at a subsequent period, in the abrogation of 
the Missouri Compromise, and the enactment of t\\Q Kansas 
and Nebraska bill. 

The national democratic convention, held in Baltimore, 
June 1, 1852, unanimously adopted a platform, approving 
the compromise of 1850, as the final decision of the slavery 
question. After a vehement and protracted struggle be- 
tween the friends of prominent candidates, Franklin Pierce, 
of New Hampshire, who had hitherto not been placed in 
the ranks of competitors, was nominated for president. 

The whig party were widely divided on the question of 
acquiescence in the compromise measures. They were still 
more at variance in regard to the claims of rival candidates 
for the presidency. Mr. Seward's friends in the free states, 
united in the support of General Scott, who had, to a consider- 
able extent, stood aloof from the agitations of the last few 
years. Although, as it was understood. General Scott ap- 
proved of the compromise measures, as acts of political 
necessity, he was supposed to have no wish to use them as 
a political test. On the other hand, the exclusive support- 
ers of the compromise as a condition of party allegiance, 
were divided between Millard Fillmore, at that time the 
acting president, and Daniel Webster, secretary of state, 
as candidates for the executive of&ce. The Whig conven- 
tion met in Baltimore on the ITth of June. A large ma- 



148 THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS. 

jority of the delegates from New York, and a considerable 
number from other states, maintained their opposition to 
the test resolutions proposed by the other branch of the 
party. Those resolutions, however, were adopted by a 
decisive majority. They were voted for by many who may 
be presumed to have been convinced of their importance, 
while others doubtless were influenced by fears of a disrup- 
tion of the party. A platform was thus established, resem- 
bling, in its main features, that of the democrats. Sup- 
ported by several advocates of the new platform, on the 
ground of his personal popularity. General Scott received 
the nomination. He was, however, regarded with suspicion 
by a great number of whigs in the slave-holding states. It 
was feared, that if he was elected to the presidency, Mr. 
Seward would be called to the office of secretary of state, 
and thus exert a leading influence on the administration. 
General Scott lost no time in attempting to remove these 
prejudices. In announcing his acceptance of the nomina- 
tion, he promptly declared his adhesion to tlie principles 
of the platform, adopted by the party. At the instance of 
the friends of the candidate, Mr. Seward disclaimed all 
personal interest in the election of General Scott. With 
his characteristic frankness and fidelity to political associ- 
ates, he publicly announced his determination to accept no 
office at the hands of the president, in case of General 
Scott's success. This had hitherto been his course, and it 
would not be changed under a future administration.* 

The democratic party, forgetting its past divisions, at 
least, for the moment, supported Mr. Pierce with unanim- 
ity and zeal. On the contrary, Mr. Webster was nomina- 
ted by a portion of the whig party, and died not only refu- 
sing to decline the nomination but openly avowing his dis- 
gust with the action of the party. Many ardent friends of 
the compromise refused to rally around General Scott, dis- 
trusting his fidelity to the platform ; while a large number 

* See Vol. III., p. 416. 



DEFEAT OF GENERAL SCOTT. 149 

of whigs in the free states, tlirougli aversion to the plat- 
form, assumed a neutral position, or gave their support to 
a third candidate. Mr. Seward and his friends could not 
so far belie their convictions, as to approve the principles 
of the platform, but yielded their aid to General Scott, in 
the manner, which, in their opinion, was best adapted to 
secure his election. The result, however, was what might 
have been foreseen. The democratic nominees received 
the electoral votes of twenty-six out of the thirty-one 
states. The loud exultations of the prevailing party, as 
well as of those whigs, who had sympathized with them in 
the canvass, showed their belief, that in the defeat of Gen- 
eral Scott, Mr. Seward was not only overthrown, but polit- 
ically annihilated. The whig party, in their opinion, was 
also for ever destroyed. Under these discouraging auspices, 
Mr. Seward resumed his seat in the senate, at the second 
session of the Thirty-Second Congress, in December, 1852. 
But neither his speeches nor his public conduct, were col- 
ored by the remembrance of the recent struggle. No traces 
of disappointment were visible in his bearing, and he at 
once devoted himself to the business of the session with the 
same calmness and assiduity which had always marked his 
congressional career. 



150 SPEECHES IN THE SENATE, CONTINUED, 



CHAPTER XX. 

XXXIld CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION, 1852-'53 SPEECHES — 

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS CUBA — PACIFIC RAILROAD TAR- 
IFF TEXAS — ORATIONS JAMES TALLMADGE. 

The speeches of Mr. Seward in the senate during the sec- 
ond session of the thirty-second Congress were on questions 
of great practical interest. In his remarks in the debate on 
^'Continental Rights and Relations," Jan. 26, 1852, he pays 
a graceful and feeling tribute to the character of John Quincy 
Adams, whom he claims as the author of the policy on recol- 
onization generally ascribed to President Monroe. Passing 
to the discussion of the policy itself, he gives his reasons for 
holding to its substantial truth, while he protests against 
the manner in which it was brought in issue on that occa- 
sion. The speech is gravely and forcibly argued, though 
not without incidental touches of effective satire.* 

We quote a few passages relating to John Quincy Adams 
and to Cuba : — 

"Mr. President : On the 23d day of February, 1848, John 
Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, who had completed a circle 
of pubhc service filbng fifty years, beginning with an inferior 
diplomatic function, passing through the chief magistracy, and 
closing with the trust of a representative in Congress, departed 
from the earth, certainly respected by mankind, and, if all post- 
humous honors are not insincere and false, deplored by his 
countrymen. 

*' On a fair and cloudless day in the month of June, 1850, when 

the loud and deep voice of wailing had just died away in the 

land, the senator from Michigan, of New England born, and by 

New England reared — the leader of a great party, not only 

* See Vol. TIT., p. 605. ' 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 151 

here, but in the whole couiitiy — rose in the senate-chamber, and 
after complaining that a member of the family of that great states- 
man of the east, instead of going backward with a garment to cover 
his infirmities, had revealed them by publishing portions of his 
private diary, himself proceeded to read the obnoxious extracts. 
They showed the author's strong opinions, that by the federal 
compact the slaveholding class had obtained, and they had exer- 
cised, a controlling influence in the government of the country. 

" Placing these extracts by the side of passages taken from 
the Farewell Address of Washington, the senator from Michigan 
said ; ' He is unworthy the name of an American who does not 
feel at his heart's core tlie difference between the lofty patriot- 
ism and noble sentiments of one of these documents, and 

but I will not say Avhat tlie occasion -would justify. I will only 
say, and that is enough, the other, for it is another' — 'It can 
not, nor will it, nor should it, escape the censure of an age like 
this.' — 'Better that it had been entombed, like the ancient 
Egyptian records, till its language was lost, than thus to have 
been exposed to the light of day.' 

"The senator then proceeded to set forth, by contrast, his 
own greater justice and generosity to the southern states, and 
his own higher fidelity to the Union. This was in the senate 
of the United States. And yet no one rose to vindicate the 
memory of John Quincy Adams, or to express an emotion even 
of surprise, or of regret, that it had been thought necessary thus 
to invade the sanctity of the honored grave where the illustrious 
statesman, who had so recently passed the gates of death, was 
sleeping. I was not of New England, by residence, education, 
or descent, and there were reasons enough why I should then 
endure in silence a pain that I shared with so many of my coun- 
trymen. But I determined that, when the tempest of popular 
passion that was then raging in the country should have passed 
by, I would claim a hearing here — not to defend or vindicate 
the sentiments which the senator from Michigan had thus se- 
verely censured, for Mr. Adams himself had referred them, 
together with all his actions and opinions concerning slavery — 
not to this tribunal, or even to the present time, but to that after- 
age which gathers and records the impartial and ultimate judg- 
ment of mankind — but to show how just and generous he had 



152 THE MONROE DOCTRINE. 

been in his public career toward all tlie members of tins confed- 
eracy, and how devoted to the imion of the states, and to the 
aggrandizement of this republic. I am thankful that the neces- 
sity for performing that duty has passed by, and that the 
statesman of Quincy has, earlier than I hoped, received his vin- 
dication, and has received it, too, at the hands of him from whom 
it was justly due — the accuser himself. I regret only this — that 
the vindication was not as generously as it was effectually made. 

" There are two propositions arising out of our interests in and 
around the gulf of Mexico, which are admitted by all our states- 
men. One of them is, that the safety of the southern states 
requires a watchful jealousy of the presence of European pow- 
ers in the southern portions of the North- American continent ; 
and the other is, that the tendency of commercial and political 
events invites the United States to assume and exercise a para- 
mount influence in the affairs of the nations situated in this 
hemisphere ; that is, to become and remain a great western con- 
tmental power, balancing itself against the possible combina- 
tions of Europe. The advance of the country toward that 
position constitutes what, in the language of many, is called 
' progress ;' and the position itself is Avhat, by the same class, is 
called ' manifest destiny.' It is held by all who approve that 
progress, and expect that destiny, to be necessary to prevent 
the recolonization of this continent by the European states, and 
to save the island of Cuba from passing out of the possession of 
decayed Spain, into that of any of the more vigorous maritime 
powers of the old world. 

" In December, 1823, James Monroe, president of the United 
States, in his annual message to Congress, proclaimed the first 
of these two policies substantially as follows : * The American 
continents, by the free and independent condition which they 
have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered 
as subjects for future colonization by any European power ; and 
while existing rights should be respected, the safety and interest 
of the United States require them to announce that no future 
colony or dominion shall, with their consent, be planted or estab- 
lished in any part of the North American continent.' This is 
what is called, here and elsewhere, the Monroe doctrine, so far 
as it involves recolonization. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 153 

"John Quincy Adams and John 0. Calhoun were then mombers, 
chief members, of Monroe's admmistration. John Quincy Adams 
afterward acknowledged that he was the author of that doctrine 
or pohcy; and John 0. Calhoun, on the 15th of May, 1848, in 
the senate, testified on that point fully. A senator had related 
an alleged conversation, in which Mr. Adams was represented 
as having said that three memorable propositions contained in 
that message, of which what I have quoted was one, had origi- 
nated with himself. Mr. Calhoun replied, that ' Mr. Adams, if 
he had so stated, must have referred to only the one proposition 
concerning re-colonization [the one now in question]' and then 
added as follows : * As respects that, his [Mr. Adams's] memory 

does not differ from mine It originated enth*ely with 

Mr. Adams.'* 

*' Thus much for the origin of the Monroe doctrine on recoloni- 
zation. Xow, let us turn to the position of John Quincy Adams, 
concerning national jealousy of the designs of European powers 
upon the island of Cuba. The recent revelations of our diplo- 
macy on that subject begin with the period when that statesman 
presided in the department of state. On the 17th of December, 
1822, Mr. Adams informed Mr. Forsyth, then American minister 
m Spain, that * the island of Cuba had excited much attention, 
and had become of deep interest to the American Union ;' and, 
referring to reported rival designs of France and Great Britain 
upon that island, instructed him to make known to Spain ' the 
sentiments of the United States, which were favorable to the 
continuance of Cuba in its connection with Spain.' On the 28th 
of April, 1823, Mr. Adams thus instructed Mr. Nelson, the suc- 
cessor of Mr. Forsyth : — 

" ' The islands of Cuba and Porto-Rico still remain, nominally, and so far 
really dependent upon Spain, that she yet possesses the power of transfer- 
ring her own dominion over them to others. These islands, from their local 
position, are natural appendages to the Xorth American continent; and one 
of them, Cuba, almost in sight of our shores, from a midtitude of considera- 
tions, has become an object of transcendant importance to the commercial 
and political interests of our Union. Its commanding position, with refer- 
ence to the gulf of Mexico and the West India seas ; the character of its pop- 
ulation ; its situation midway between our southern coast and tlie i-land 
of St. Domingo; its safe and capacious harbor of the Havana, fronting a 

* App. Cong. Globe, 1847-'48, p. 631. 
7* 



154 CUBA SPAIN — ENGLAND. 

long line of our shores destitute of the same advantage; the nature of its 
productions and of its wants, furnishing the supplies and needing the re- 
turns of a commerce immensely profitable and mutually beneficial — give it 
an importance in the sum of our national interests with which that of no 
other foreign territory can be compared, and little inferior to that wliich 
binds the different members of this Union togetlier. Such, indeed, are, be- 
tween the interests of that island and of this country, the geographical, com- 
mercial, moral, and political relations, formed by nature, gathering in the 
process of time, and even now verging to maturity, that, in looking forward 
to the probable course of events, for the short period of half a century, it is 
scarcely possible to resist the conviction that the annexation of Cuba to our 
federal republic will be indispensable to the continuance and integrity of 
the Union itself. It is obvious, however, that for this event we are not yet 
prepared. Numerous and formidable objections to the extension of our ter- 
ritorial dominions beyond sea, present themselves to the first contemplation 
of the subject; obstacles to the system of policy by which alone that result 
can be compassed and maintained, are !o be foreseen and surmounted, both 
from at home and abroad ; but there are la.vs of political as well as of phys- 
ical gravitation ; and if an apple, severed by the tempest from its native 
ti'ee, can not choose but fall to the ground, Cuba, forcibly disjoined from its 
own unnatural connection with Spain, and incapable of self-support, can 
gravitate only toward the North American union, which, by the same law 
of nature, can not cast her off from its bosom. 

" 'It will be among the primary objects requiring your most earnest and 
unremitting attention, to ascertain and report to us every movement of ne- 
gotiation between Spain and Great Britain upon this subject So 

long as the constitutional government may continue to be administei-ed in 
the name of the king, your official intercourse will be with his ministers, 
and to them you will repeat, what Mr. Forsyth has been instructed to say, 
that the wishes of your government are that Cuba and Porto-Rico may con- 
tinue in connection with independent and constitutional Spain.' 

" Thirty years afterward, viz. : on the 4th day of January, 
1853, the senator from Michigan (Mr. Cass) without one word 
of acknowledgment of Mr. Adams's agency in instituting those 
measures of ' progress' toward the * manifest destiny' of the coun- 
try, submitted the resohitions which are under consideration, and 
which are in these words : — 

" ' Resolved hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the United States do hereby 
declare, that " the American continents, by the free and independent condi- 
tion which they have assumed and maintained, ai*e henceforth not to be 
considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power;" and 
while " existing rights should be respected," and will be by the United 
States, they owe it to their own "safety and interests" to announce, as they 
now do, "that no future European colony or dominion shall, with their con- 



ACQUISITION OF CUBA. 155 

Bent, be planted or establislied on any part of the North American conti- 
nent;" and should the attempt be made, they thus deliberately declare tiiat 
it will be viewed as an act originating in motives regardless of their "inter- 
ests and their safety," and which will leave them free to adopt such meas- 
ures as an independent nation may justly adopt in defence of its rights and 
its honor. 

" ' Ajid be it further resolved, That while the United States disclaim any 
designs upon the island of Cuba, inconsistent with the laws of nations, and 
with their duties to Spain, they consider it due to the vast importance of 
the subject to make known, in this solemn manner, that they should view 
all efforts on the part of any other power to procure possession^ whether 
peaceably or forcibly, of that island, which, as a naval or military position, 
might, under circumstances easy to be foreseen, become dangerous to their 
southern coast, to tJie gulf of Mexico, and to the mouth of tlie Mississippi, 
as unfriendly acts directed against them, to be resisted by all tlie means in 
their power.' 

" In bringing together these actions of John Quincy Adams 
in 1822, and of the senator from Michigan in 1853, and placing 
them in juxtaposition in the history of the senate, I have done 
all that the senator from Michigan seems to have left undone, 
to vindicate the departed statesman from the censures heaped 
upon him by the living one in 1850." 

After this vindication of the sage of Quincy, Mr. Seward 
availed himself of the opportunity to express his own opin- 
ions on the great subjects under review. In regard to the 
acquisition of Cuba, he says : — 

"While I do not desire the immediate or early annexation of 
Cuba, nor see how I could vote for it at all until slavery shall 
have ceased to counteract the workings of nature in that beauti- 
ful island, nor even then, unless it could come into the Union 
without injustice to Spain, without aggressive war, and without pro- 
ducing internal dissensions among ourselves, I nevertheless yield 
my full assent to the convictions expressed by John Quincy 
Adams, that this nation can never safely allow the island of 
Cuba to pass under the dominion of any power that is already, 
or can become, a formidable rival or enemy ; and can not safely 
consent to the restoration of colonial relations between any por- 
tions of this continent and the monarchies of Europe." 

In February the important question of our " Relations 
with Mexico, and the Continental railroad," was debated 



156 RAILROAD IRON — SPEECH. 

in the senate. The speech of Mr. Seward on that sub- 
ject abounds in lucid views of national policy.* 

On the proposal to abolish or suspend the duty on for- 
eign railroad iron, Mr. Seward addressed the senate in 
one of his most characteristic speeches.! In this speech 
we find the following warning to the country of the danger 
of an approaching revulsion in railroad affairs no less just 
than, as it now appears, prophetic : — 

" I ask, now, what is the apology for this extraordinary meas- 
m-e 1 It is that it will encourage the making of railroads. Sir, 
I have spent my life, what there has been of it spent in public 
action, in encouraging the making of canals and railroads. I 
am a friend to canals and railroads ; but I show my fidelity to 
them in adhering to them when they are unpopular and need 
help, and support, and patronage, and not when they have pa- 
tronage so great as to be alarming for its effect, not only upon 
enterprises of that class, but upon the country itself. Do you 
know how many railroads you are making ] You are making 
twelve thousand miles of railroads in the United States already. 
You are making them so fast, that you do not rely upon your 
own resources for making them at all, but you are selling the 
credit of individuals, towns, counties, and states, throughout the 
Union, in untold amounts, and constituting an aggregate debt 
greater than any amount which any man ever presumed it would 
be safe for this country to owe to foreign countries. Your rail- 
roads are not now made chiefly by subscriptions to their stock. 
There are small substratum subscriptions, then mortgages on 
the road, then second mortgages, then third mortgages, until 
the credit of whole communities is pledged, and pledged to 
English capitalists. 

" We are pledged in London for the cost of nearly all our rail- 
roads. Our capital is being diverted, so that there is no place 
in the United States where there is not a railroad being made. 

" There are already half a dozen railroads from the point of 
Lake Erie to the city of New York, all converging there, be- 
cause railroads have become popular and profitable. So it is 

* See Vol. III., p. 656. f See Vol. III., p. 623. 



RAILROADS SPEECH. * 157 

throughout New England and throughout the west. Now it is 
not possible that the railroad enterprise in this country can ab- 
sorb capital in an exclusive degree without producing an injury, 
not only to that enterprise and those subservient to it, but also 
injurious to other enterprises which increase the vigor and pro- 
mote the progress of the country. Does any man doubt it ? 
What did we do ten years ago, when we embarked in building 
canals and railroads so deeply, and pledged our credit so far, 
that the construction of every canal and railroad had to be sus- 
pended ? What happened in England on a like occasion, but 
that a great railroad-king projected railroads all over the island ; 
and so much capital was invested in them, that all at once the 
bubble was pricked, and the whole enterprise collapsed, bring- 
ing on general stagnation and bankruptcy ? This is the ten- 
dency of things here now. I am not by habit a croaker ; but 
I can see that, unless the national government shall act so as to 
restrain rather than encourage and stimulate this excessive spirit 
of speculation in railroad investments, just such a collapse will 
happen here. Railroads do not need protection ; iron manufac- 
turers do need it. Through the town in which I live, and the 
towns adjacent, the people, carried away by railroad enthusiasm, 
have applied to the legislature for permission to mortgage their 
whole property for the making of railroads ; and yet there is 
not one railroad which they are thus making, in which foreign 
capitalists will invest a dollar, except they have collateral, per- 
sonal, or public security. But you Avill tell me that Congress 
has not encouraged railroads. Congress has already encouraged 
railroads by donations of duties on foreign railroad iron exceed- 
ing the sum of three millions of dollars. Congress has already, 
with almost a unanimous vote in this chamber, given to every 
western state land enough from the public domain — as much as 
they said was necessary — to construct a web of railroads now 
in progress and advancing to its completion, covering over the 
whole of the territories of the United States from the shores of 
the Atlantic to the Mississippi river, and even crossing that 
broad line, and advancing precisely upon the same system and 
same policy toward the base of the Rocky mountains. We 
have done enough, unless we have some other resources — some 
other revenues which we can apply to this great and beneficent 



158 ORATION AT COLUMBUS. 

enterprise of the age ; and we have no otlier, if the only other 
one is the sacrifice of the mining interest of iron in the old Atlan- 
tic states. Sir, I have voted land by the square league across 
the continent, and twenty millions of dollars out of the public 
treasury for railroads. I will not vote one dollar out of the iron- 
mines of my country, at the cost of the owner, and of the miner 
who is engaged in drawing its wealth to the surface." 

This was followed by a speech on " Texas and her Cred- 
itors,"* which closes the list of Mr. Seward's senatorial 
efforts during that Congress. Both of these speeches are 
marked by the admirable union of statistics, general reason- 
ing, and lofty sentiments of Avhich the texture of his delib- 
erative eloquence is composed. 

After an extra session of several weeks called by the 
new administration to consider executive appointments, 
the senate adjourned in April, 1853. Mr. Seward was 
occupied during the summer in the courts of the United 
States, but he found time to accept an urgent call to deliv- 
er an address at the dedication of Capital University at 
Columbus the seat of government in the state of Ohio. 
This address rises to the dignity of an oration and pleads 
the cause of human nature as especially committed to the 
care of the people of the United States. It closes with an 
eloquent showing of the responsibilities, in this respect, of 
the college or the university as an American institution.! 

Mr. Seward's studies during the recess of Congress closed 
with the delivery of an address before the American Insti- 
tute at New York on the 20th of October, 1853. This 
address was a stirring appeal to the American people to 
rise to a higher tone of individual and national indepen- 
dence, in thought, sentiment, and action. While every 
part of it was received with distinguished favor, no part 
was more just or more highly appreciated than the follow- 
ing touching tribute to the memory of James Tallmadge : — 

* See Vol. HI., p. 667. 

f This address will be found anionf^ the selections in this vohime. 



AMEKICAN INSTITUTE — ADDRESS. 159 

" I have been for many reasons habitually averse from min- 
gling- ni the sometimes excited debates which croM'd npon each 
other in a great city. There was, however, an authority which 
I could not disobey, in the venerable name and almost paternal 
kindness of the eminent citizen, who so recently presided here 
Avith dignity and serenity all his own ; and who transmitted the 
invitation of the Institute, and persuaded its acceptance ! 

" How sudden his death ! Only three Aveeks ago, the morn- 
ing mail brought to me his announcement of his arrival to ar 
range this exhibition, and his summons to me to join him here ; 
and the evening despatch, on the self-same day, bore the pain- 
ful intelligence that the lofty genius which had communed M-ith 
kindred spints so long, on the interests of his country, had de- 
parted from the earth, and that the majestic forai which had 
been animated by it, had disappeared for ever from among living 
men. 

" I had disciplined myself when coming here, so as to purpose 
to speak no word for the cause of human freedom, lest what 
might seem too persistent an advocacy might offend. But must 
I, therefore, abridge of its just proportions the eulogium whicii 
the occasion and the character of the honored dead alike 
demand ? 

"The first ballot which I cast for the chief magistracy of mv 
native and most beloved state, bore the name of James Tall- 
madge, as the alternate of De Witt Clinton. If I have never 
faltered in piu'suing the policy of that immortal statesman, 
through loud reproach and vindictive opposition during his life, 
and amid clamors and contentions, often amounting almost to 
faction, since his death, I have found as little occasion to hesi- 
tate or waver in adhering to the counsels and example of the 
illustrious compeer, who, after surviving him so many years, has 
now been removed, in ripened age, to the companionship of the 
just. How does not time vindicate fidelity to truth and to our 
coimtry ! A vote for Clinton and Tallmadge in 1824, wliat 
censures did it not bring then ? Who will impeach that ballot 
now ? 

'* A statesman's claim to the gratitude of his country rests on 
what were, or what would have been, the results of the policy 
he has recommr^nded. If the counsels of James Tallmadge had 



160 EULOGIUM ON JAMES TALLMADGE. 

completely prevailed, then not only would American forests, 
mines, soil, invention, and industry, liave rendered our country, 
now and for ever, independent of all other nations, except for 
what climate forbids ; but then, also, no menial hand would ever 
have guided a plough, and no footstep of a slave would ever 
have been tracked on the soil of all that vast part of our national 
domain that stretches away from the banks of the Mississippi to 
the far western ocean. 

" This was the policy of James Tallmadge. It was worthy 
of New York, in Avhose name it was promulgated. It would 
have been noble, even to have altogether failed in establishing 
it. He was successful, however, in part, though only through 
unwise delays and unnecessary compromises, which he strenu- 
ously opposed, and which, therefore, have not impaired his just 
fame. And so in the end, he more nearly than any other citi- 
zen of our time, realized the description of the happiest man in 
the world, given to the frivolous Croesus by the great Athenian : 
' He saw his offspring, and they all survived him. At the close 
of an honorable and prosperous life, on the field of civic victory, 
he was rewarded with the honors of a public funeral by the state 
that he had enriched, adorned, and enlarged.' " 



THE NEV»^ ADMINISTRATION. 161 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE XXXIITcl CONGRESS — NEBRASKA. 

Upon the accession of Mr. Pierce to the presidency, high 
expectations were formed of great and l3eneficent legisla- 
tive action by the first Congress under his administration, 
which met on the first Monday in December, 1853. Among 
the measures which, it was anticipated, would come up for 
consideration were the modification of the tarifi", so as to 
enlarge the field of national industry — the construction of 
a railroad between the Atlantic states and the Pacific 
ocean — the substitution of a system of gratuitous allot- 
ments of land, in limited quantities, to actual settlers, in- 
stead of the policy of sales of the public domain — the im- 
provement and reform of the army and navy— the regula- 
tion of the commercial marine in regard to immigrant 
passengers — the endowment of the states with portions of 
the public land, as a provision for the care of the insane 
within their limits — the establishment of steam-mails 
upon the Pacific ocean — and the opening of political and 
commercial relations with Japan. 

Mr. Seward addressed himself to the accomplishment of 
these important objects with his accustomed diligence and 
zeal. Early in the session he introduced a bill for the con- 
struction of a railroad to the Pacific, and another for the 
establishment of steam-mails between San Francisco, the 
Sandwich Islands, Japan, and China. The times seemed 
favorable for such legislation. The public treasury was 
overflowing. The slavery agitation had died away both in 
Congress and throughout the country. This calm, how- 



162 NEBRASKA IN THE SENATE. 

ever, was doomed to a sudden interruption. The prospect 
of such extended beneficent legislation was destroyed by 
the introduction of a measure, which at once supplanted all 
other subjects in Congress, and in the political interest of 
the people. This was the novel and astounding proposal 
of Mr. Douglas of Illinois, in relation to the Kansas and 
Nebraska territories. The country saw with regret and 
mortification, the homestead bill transformed into one of 
mere graduation of the prices of the public lands. The 
bills foi' the improvement of the army and navy, and the 
bill for regulating the transportation of immigrants were 
dropped, before coming to maturity. The bill for a grant 
of lands to the states in aid of the insane, was defeated in 
the senate for want of a constitutional majority, after hav- 
ing been vetoed by the president. The bill for establishing 
the Pacific railroad was lost for want of time to debate it ; 
and the bill for opening steam communication with the 
East, after passing the senate failed for want of considera- 
tion in the house. The administration had a majority of 
nearly two to one in both branches of Congress. The op- 
ponents of introducing slavery into the free territories, 
were in a decided minority in the house, while they consti- 
tuted less than one fifth of the senate. 

The measure, already alluded to, which produced this 
sudden derangement in Congress, was a provision in the 
bill for the organization of a territory in Nebraska, declar- 
ing that the states which might, at any future time, be 
formed in the new territory, should leave the question of 
slavery to be decided by the inhabitants, on the adoption 
of their constitution. This provision, as explained by the 
bill itself, was the application to Nebraska of the policy es- 
tablished in regard to Utah and New Mexico by the com- 
promise of 1850. It was evident that the Missouri com- 
promise of 1820 was thus virtually repealed. By that 
arrangement, it was provided that slavery should be ex- 
cluded from the whole unorganized portion of the public 



ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 1G3 

domain, acquired from France, and lying north of the par- 
allel of 36° 30' north latitude. The territory of Nebraska 
was comprised within these limits. 

Mr. Dixon, a senator from Kentucky, however, desirous 
to bring the supporters of prohilDition, to a still more de- 
cided test, moved an amendment to the bill, expressly an- 
nulling the portion of the Missouri compromise, which 
related to the subject. After some deliberation, Mr. 
Douglas accepted the amendment, and modified his plan, 
so far as to introduce a new bill for the organization of 
Nebraska and Kansas, within the same limits, instead of 
the territory of Nebraska alone, according to the original 
programme. The administration lost no time in adopting 
this policy as their own. It vv'as at first proposed to hasten 
the passage of the bill through both houses so rapidly, as 
to prevent any remonstrance on the part of the people. 
But the opponents of the measure, including Mr. Seward, 
Mr. Everett, Mr. Chase, Mr. Sumner, Mr. Truman Smith, 
Mr. Wade, Mr. Bell, Mr. Houston, and Mr. Fessenden, pre- 
sented such an earnest and effective resistance, that the 
attention of the country was aroused, and an indignant prot- 
est called forth from the people of the free states. The 
bill, however, passed the senate by a majority of more than 
two to one, and after a protracted struggle was carried 
through the house, in an amended form by a vote of 113 
to 100. 

On its return to the senate, it was met by Messrs. Sew- 
ard, Sumner, and Chase, with a continued and powerful 
opposition. But it was all to no effect. The bill finally 
passed that body, and amid the firing of cannon and the 
shouts of its friends, it was sent to the president for his 
signature, at three o'clock in the morning of May 26, 1854. 
The approval of the president was promptly given, and the 
odious measure became the law of the land. Thus was 
a])rogated the celebrated Missouri compromise — a law en- 
acted thirty years before with all the solemnity of a com- 



164 THE COMPROMISE OF 1830 AND NEBRASKA. 

pact between the free and slave states — and a territory 
opened to slavery as large as the original thirteen states, 
and nearly equal in extent to all the existing free states. 
The act was consummated by the co-operation of the North. 
Originating with a senator from a free state — it was passed 
by a Congress containing in each branch a majority of 
members from the free states, and was sanctioned by the 
approval of a free state president. 

The friends of this legislation attempted to defend it on 
the pretence that it was not an original act, but only de- 
claratory of the true intent and significance of the compro- 
mise measures of 1850. For his resistance to those meas- 
ures, Mr. Seward had been vehemently denounced. But 
at the very commencement of the Nebraska struggle, the 
friends of freedom at the North turned their eyes toward 
him, as its devoted champion. He was beset with appeals 
from all sides to awaken the country to the atrocity of the 
proposed transaction. In no quarter were these appeals 
more urgent than in the city of New York, where his oppo- 
sition to the compromise of 1850 had been most severely 
condemned. With his usual sagacity and confidence in the 
popular impulse, and faithful to his innate sense of personal 
dignity, he kept aloof from these overtures, and was con- 
tent with the zealous discharge of his senatorial duties on 
the floor of Congress. The following characteristic letter 
illustrates the coolness and decision of his bearing at this 
time : — 

Washington, Saturday, January 28, 1851. 

"Gentlemen : The invitation to a meeting- to be held in the 
city of New York, to protest against any repeal or violation of 
the Missouri Compromise, with which you have honored me, lias 
been received. My constant attendance here is required by tlie 
interest which the city of New York and the state of New York 
have in the great projects of a railroad to San Francisco, and 
the extension of our commerce to the islands and continents 
divided from us by the Pacific ocean, which are now being 



LETTER TO THE NEW YORK MEETIXG. 165 

matured in committees to which I belong. Moreover the clay 
designated for the meeting is one upon which the senate may- 
be brought to a vote upon the bold and dangerous measure 
which has so justly excited the patriotic apprehensions of the 
citizens of the metropolis. I could not be safely absent from 
the capital under these circumstances, even if my attendance in 
New York Avould otherwise be proper. 

" You have kindly asked me, in vicAV of this inability, to give 
you such an expression of my * sentiments as may help to arouse 
the North to the defence of its rights, and the South to the 
maintenance of its plighted honor.' Permit me to say, in re- 
sponse to the appeal, that when the slavery laws of 1850 were 
under discussion in the senate, I regarded the ground then de- 
manded to be conceded by the North as a vantage ground, which, 
when once yielded, would be retrieved with infinite difficulty 
afterward, if, indeed, it should not be absolutely irretrievable ; 
and that I, therefore, in my place as a representative here, said 
and did all that it was in my power to do and say, and all that 
I could now do and say, to ' help to rouse the North to the de- 
fence of its rights, and the South to the maintenance of its hon- 
or.' When, afterward, eminent members of Congress, who had 
been engaged in passing those laws, carried an appeal against 
those who had opposed them before the people in their primary 
assemblies, I declined to follow them then, and I have ever 
since refrained from all unnecessary discussions of the slave laws 
of 1850, and of matters pertaining to slavery, even here, as well 
as elsewhere, because I was unwilling to injure so just a cause 
by discussions which might seem to betray undue solicitude, if 
not a spirit of faction. We have only now arrived at a new 
stage in the trial of that appeal. For it is quite clear that if 
the slavery laws had not been passed in 1850, for the territories 
acquired from Mexico, there would have been no pretence for 
extending such slavery laws now, over the territories before ac- 
quired from Louisiana, and that if we had maintained our ground 
on the laws of freedom, which then protected New Mexico and 
Utah, we should not now have been attacked in our stronghold 
in Nebraska. It is equally evident, also, that Nebraska is not 
all that is to be saved or lost. If we are driven from this field, 
there will yet remain Oregon and Minnesota, and we who 



166 SPEECHES ON THE NEBRASKA BILL 

thought only so lately as 1849 of securing some portion at least 
of the shore of the Gulf of Mexico and all of the Pacific coast 
to the institutions of freedom, will be, before 1859, brought to a 
doubtful struggle to prevent the extension of slaveiy to the 
shores of the great lakes, and thence westward to Puget's sound. 
I hope, gentlemen, that for one, I may be allowed to continue 
to the end that abstinence from popular agitation v/hich I have 
heretofore practised, less from considerations of self-respect than 
from my confidence in the sagacity and virtue of the people I 
represent. Nevertheless, I beg you to be assured that, while 
declining to go into popular assemblies, as an agitator, I shnll 
endeavor to do my duty here with as many true men as shall 
be found in a delegation, which, if all were firm and united in 
the maintenance of public right and justice, would be able to 
control the decision of this great question. But the measure of 
success and effect which shall crown our exertions must depend 
now, as heretofore, on the fidelity with which the people whom 
we represent shall adhere to the policy and principles which are 
the foundation of their own unrivalled prosperity and greatness. 
" I am, gentlemen, with great respect and esteem, your obedi- 
ent servant, ** William H. Seward." 

The pledges given in this letter were nobly fulfilled. 
The first of his speeches* on the Nebraska bill was a pro- 
found and dispassionate statement of the whole argument 
against the measure in question. Though it failed of pre- 
venting the accomplishment of the measure in Congress, it 
acted, with magnetic power, on the people of the free states, 
arousing them to a spirit of unconquerable resistance to the 
aggressions of slavery. It was a gloomy night for the 
lovers of freedom in those states, when the telegraphic 
despatches flashed throughout the country, announcing that 
the ill-omened bill was on its final reading in the senate, 
and that its inevitable enactment was near at hand. Mr. 
Seward chose that hour of intense excitement to close the 
debate on his part. He commenced his speech with these 
solemn and impressive words : — 

* See page 351 of this volume. 



CLOSE OF THE DEBATE. 167 

" The sun has set for the last time upon the guarantied and cer- 
tam liberties of all the unsettled and unorganized portions of the 
American continent that lie within the jurisdiction of the United 
States. To-morrow's sun will rise in dim eclipse over them.* 
How long that obscuration shall last, is known only to the 
Power that directs and controls all human events. For myself, 
I know only this — that now no human power will prevent its 
coming on, and that its passing off will be hastened and secured 
by others than those now here, and perhaps by only those 
belonging to future generations 

" We are on the eve of the consummation of a great national 
transaction — a transaction Avhich will close a cycle in the his- 
tory of our country — and it is impossible not to desire to pause 
a moment and survey the scene around us and the prospect be- 
fore us. However obscure we may individually be, our connec- 
tion with this great transaction will perpetuate our names for 
the praise or for the censure of future ages, and perhaps in 
regions far remote. If, then, we had no other motive f^r our 
actions but that of an honest desire for a just fame, v.-e could 
not be mdifferent to that scene and that prospect. But indi- 
vidual interests and ambition sink into insignificance in view of 
the interests of our country and of mankind. These interests 
awaken, at least in me, an intense solicitude." 

He then proceeded to review the sophistries which had 
been offered in defence of the bill, and pointed out its 
calamitous tendencies, with a clearness and power that 
might almost have arrested its progress even on the verge 
of enactment. Presenting to the free states the evidences 
of their ability to procure a repeal of the law, he urged, by 
conclusive arguments, the importance of such a stop, and 
at the same time luminously expounded the methods of 
excluding slavery from Nebraska, and the vast, unsettled 
regions of the West, by promoting a wide and rapid emi- 
gration into the territories in question. The effect of this 
speech! was cheering in the extreme. It threw a rainbow 

* It will be remembered that an almost total eclipse of the sun actually 
occurred on that day — the 26th of May, 1854.— Ed. 
\ See p. 384 of this volume. 



168 THE CLERGY OF NEW ENGLAND. 

over the dark cloud that hung over the country. The aus- 
picious omen was accepted. And the faith of the people 
has been rewarded by the most gratifying results in the 
recent elections. 

Beside these two important speeches, Mr. Seward made 
several other elaborate efibrts in the senate, addressing that 
body on the bills which have been already enumerated. 

During the discussion of the Kansas and Nebraska bill 
in the house of representatives, a memorial remonstrating 
against the repeal of the Missouri compromise, signed by 
three thousand and fifty clergymen of New England, was 
presented to the senate by Edward Everett. Mr. Douglas 
and other senators attacked this memorial with great vio- 
lence, severely criticising its language, calling in question 
its propriety, and denying the claim of its authors to a 
hearing in the senate. Mr. Seward defended the course 
of the memorialists, and maintained the right of petition 
on its broadest grounds. A reference to his remarks on 
this subject will show the character of his positions, and 
the vigor and acumen with which they were sustained.* 

Two unusually important treaties were ratified by the 
senate in executive or secret session, during this meet- 
ing of Congress. One is known as the " Gadsden Treaty," 
for the settlement of our relations with Mexico and the 
other, as the " Reciprocity Treaty" for the regulation of 
trade between Canada and the United States. Mr. Seward 
is understood to have opposed the former, while he gave 
his support to the latter. 

It will be seen that Mr. Seward has not been an 
idle spectator of the proceedings of the senate. His voice 
has been raised on the most momentous questions in those 
halls " where debate either wins a great influence or utterly 
wastes the speaker's power." No one can doubt the effect 
of his active participation in the senatorial strife on his 
own fame. His speeches have not only been heard with 

* See p. 223 of this volume. 



ADDRESS AT YALE COLLEGE. 169 

profound respect in the august forum, where they were de- 
livered, but they will be read with instruction and delight 
by the most intelligent portion of our republican population. 

Rich in significant lessons of statesmanship, abounding 
in the treasured wisdom of years of study and practice in 
affairs, breathing a spirit of the most expansive humanity, 
and adorned with the classic embellishments of a suscepti- 
ble and refined taste, they form an interesting memorial 
of the progress of American letters. Mr. Seward, we 
are persuaded, will henceforth occupy as enviable a place 
among the writers of his country, as he has long held among 
her practical statesmen. 

In addition to his elaborate speeches in the senate, Mr. 
Seward has often taken an incidental part in important de- 
bates, a record of which is preserved in the collection of 
his works. After the decease of Henry Clay and Daniel 
Webster, he delivered a tribute to the memory of each of 
those illustrious statesmen, in chaste and discriminating- 
sketches of their characters. For justness and vigor of 
conception, elevation of feeling, and felicity of diction, these 
are scarcely inferior to the best specimens of mortuary elo- 
quence in our language.* 

Just before the adjournment of Congress (on the 26th of 
July), Mr. Seward delivered the annual oration before the 
Phi Beta Kappa society of Yale college, on which occasion 
he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. The 
subject of his discourse was " The Physical, Moral, and 
Intellectual Development of the American People," which 
he treated with a masterly discrimination and vigorous elo- 
quence that commanded the admiration of a highly intellec- 
tual audience, and strengthened his well-earned title to 
oratorical fame.f 

Mr. Seward has now been nearly six years in the senate 
of the United States. Of his conduct in that exalted sta- 
tion, the speeches and debates now published, afford the 

* See Vol. III., p. 104. f ^ee p. 291 of this volume. 

8 



170 CONCLUSION. 

most authentic illustration. Amid the heated excitements 
of the day, he has been found calm, watchful, and earnest, 
on the post of duty. Trustfully biding his time, he has 
cherished no anxiety to vindicate his reputation from the 
aspersions of his oi3ponents, save by a uniform course of 
well-doing. In the most ardent zeal of senatorial debate, 
he has never lost sight of the decorum belonging to the 
place. Often the subject of violent personalities, he has 
preserved the courtesy of the gentleman and the dignity of 
the legislator. No provocation has induced him to violate 
the amenities of refined social life, nor to reply to ill-man- 
nered abuse by a retort in kind. 

His fidelity to his political associates has often been the 
subject of remark. During the administration which fol- 
lowed that of President Taylor, to be a friend of Mr. Sew- 
ard was to be proscribed. The price of such partiality, to 
an office-holder, was invariably removal. But that admin- 
istration came into power through the action of the whig 
party, from which he derived his trust. Hence, it never 
failed to receive the support of Mr. Seward. He has neg- 
lected no suitable occasion to defend it: he has never 
been one of its assailants. It is said, and we believe truly, 
that he promptly sustained all its nominations to office. 

But the most remarkable feature in his public career is 
his consistent adherence to principle. Guided not by a 
low worldly policy, or motives of secular expediency, but 
by the radiant light of ideal truth, his course has been like 
the path of a noble ship on the ocean, faithfully steering by 
celestial luminaries. His past history presents the best 
assurance of his future activity. Whatever the sphere in 
which he may be placed, it is certain that he will bring 
exalted talents to the performance of the humblest as well 
as the noblest duties, postponing all private interests to his 
love of humanity, and seeking as the highest boon of a 
manly life, the realization of truth, justice, and love, in the 
institutions of society. 



SELECTIONS, 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



The Selections which follow have been made partly for 
their literary merits, and partly on account of the sentiments 
they contain, as well as for the purpose of illustrating the 
preceding Memoir. 

The arrangement of the extracts under the several heads of 
Agriculture, Internal Improvements, Education, Free- 
dom, Commerce, and Miscellaneous, has been adopted for 
the greater convenience of reference. It need not be remarked, 
perhaps, that these selections embrace but small portions of 
Mr. Seward's Speeches or Writings on any of those topics. 
The limits of the volume have excluded much that might have 
been considered equally pertinent and valuable. It is believed, 
however, that they present a fair and faithful exposition of his 
views. 

The difficulty of making the wisest selections, where so much 
must necessarily be omitted, will readily occur to the reader. 
Neither is it necessary to say, here, that more or less injustice 
must always be done to any author by detaching portions of his 
writings from their original connections. For this reason, as 
well as for a want of room, we have forborne to make even 
the briefest extracts from some of Mr. Seward's most eloquent 



174 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 

and important productions. Among these may be named his 
"Notes on New York" — his " Virginia Correspondence" — his 
"Letters from Europe" — and his Eulogiums on Lafayette, 
John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay. 

Room has been made, however, for his Oration at Columbus, 
on the "Destiny of America," and for his two Speeches in 
the Senate on the " Nebraska Question," entire. They were 
deemed too important to be omitted or abridged. His defence 
of the Bight of Petition, on the occasion of the reception of 
the Memorial from the Clergy of New England in the Senate, 
has also been retained, substantially, in full. Beside these 
and others, in the following pages, a number of extracts of 
especial interest and of considerable length, it will be observed, 
have been included in the Memoir ; among which are several 
Arguments at the bar, on Invention, on the Fugitive- Slave Law, 
in defence of William Freeman, and of Abel F. Fitch and oth- 
ers ; the Speech at Cleveland on the relative position of par- 
ties on the Slavery question ; the vindication of John Quincy 
Adams ; and the Eulogium on James Tallmadge. 

Among the Selections, also, the following may be particularly 

referred to as especially interesting, and therefore quoted at 

more than usual length : Address at Springfield, Mass., on the 

completion of the Western Railroad ; Annual Messages relating 

to the Education of the Children of Exiles ; Address at Yale 

College on the American People, their Moral, Intellectual, 

and Physical Development ; Argument in the Freeman Case, 

on Insanity; and Address before the American Institute on the 

True Basis of American Independence. 

Editor. 



AGRICULTURE. 



Kmprobement of ^flriculturc Essential to tf)e Security of laepuftU* 
can ^institutions. 

The science which involves the physical laws most open to 
our investigation, and to which the primeval law of our exist- 
ence compels us, and the art which precedes all other inven- 
tions and whose cultivation leads to plenty and is cheered by 
health and contentment, are the last which receive the patronage 
of philosophy or attain the favor of government. Mankind 
learned the distances and laws of planets, and even the periods 
of comets before they conceived the mysteries of vegetation ; 
and the fine arts were perfected in ages when agTiculture, loaded 
with the superstition of centuries, was confined to slaves. It 
may easily be explained why this should have been the experi- 
ence of other ages and other countries. The powers of govern- 
ment have always been vested in classes or individuals farthest 
removed from the tillers of the soil ; and ambition and pride 
have sought gratification in conquests and in homage of the fine 
arts. But it must not, it can not, be so here where the agiicul- 
tural interest is sovereign, and as it furnishes all the means, so 
also it rightfully supplies the motives and directs the action of 
the government. . . . Agriculture appeals to us as republicans, 
therefore with peculiar earnestness not only by our desire to 
increase the public wealth, enlarge the public intelligence, and 
elevate the standard of public virtue ; but also by our solicitude 
to preserve the ascendency of that policy of peace and improve- 
ment which is identified with the existence of democratic insti- 
tutions. — Annual Message, 1839. 



176 SELECTIONS. 



2C|)0 JJ^omBatmn of tijc ^lacrfcan dtiUjm Hljoitllr ht 3B):em|)tctr from 
5inboluntar» Sale. 

I RESPECT all lawful contracts, and I would not unnecessarily 
interfere with even rigorous remedies wliicli existed when such 
contracts were made. But it is wise as it is just and humane, to 
alleviate prospectively the relations between debtor and credi- 
tor, Within the last twenty years, imprisonment for debt, a 
system which had prevailed for more than two thousand years 
before, has been safely abolished by every state in this Union, 
and I believe by every commercial nation in Europe. New 
York, the most commercial state, has with equal safety abol- 
ished the rigorous remedy of distress for rent, and has exempted 
certain portions of estates from liability to sale for debts con- 
tracted after such laws were passed. Other states have adopted 
the policy of protecting the homestead from compulsory sale. 
A home is the first necessity of every family ; it is indispensa- 
ble to the education and qualification of citizens. Can not soci- 
ety justly withdraw it from the hazards of commercial contracts, 
and from exposure to the accidents following disease and 
death ] We bestow pensions upon decayed soldiers who have 
served their country in her wars ; we protect such annuities 
against involuntary assignment ; and the policy is as wise as it 
is generous. But he who reclaims an acre of land from the ster- 
ility of nature, and brings it into a productive condition, confers 
a greater benefit upon the state than valor has often the power 
to bestow. Sir, all that is movable in property may be used as 
a security for credits — and that security is adequate to supply 
all the wants of commerce. The home of the farmer, the asylum 
of the children of the republic, may be safely reserved and 
protected. — Speech in U. S. Senate, Feb. 27, 1851. 

popular 3^xtintiictB aflainst Kmprobcmcnt of ^fiticulture sanreason* 
able anD ll^zxriicious. 

Who does not desire that the generation to which he belongs 
shall be wiser and greater than those which have gone before 
it 1 Fellow-citizens, if you would thus distinguish the genera- 
tion to which you belong, of which you are a part, you must 



AGRICULTURE. 177 

have a wiser and more enlightened system of agriculture than 
that of your predecessors. I appeal to the learned men whom 
I see around me — is the science of agriculture peculiarly diffi- 
cult to explore and perfect ? Quite the contrary. Chemistry, 
mineralogy, botany, and physiology, the ancillary sciences, have 
already given up the secrets of the composition of the soil and 
of the atmosphere, and the laws which regulate the germination 
and growth of vegetable and animal organisms. What remains 
seems to be little more than the reduction of truths already 
known into methodical forms, for the purposes of instruction, 
with guides to their application under the widely-varying cir- 
cumstances of soils, climates, and seasons. NotAvithstanding 
these obvious truths, and notwithstanding that agriculture, as it 
was the first, has also always been the most general pursuit of 
civilized men, yet it is nevertheless true that it has been, more 
than all other sciences and arts, neglected. "We generally 
plough, we sow, and we reap, not with enlightened knowledge 
of the processes we prosecute, but by habit, and with a blind 
following of customs established before that knowledge had boen 
gained. We suffer disappointments which we might have pre- 
vented, and, charging the misfortune to accident and destiny, 
we perseveringly renew our culture in the same — I had almost 
said wilful — ignorance, and at the risk of the same ever-recur- 
ring disasters. 

Permit me to say plainly and with some emphasis, that this 
indifference to agricultural science can not be suffered to continue. 
While commerce, aided by vigorous and well-sustained inven- 
tion, is reducing the dangers and diminishing the cost of naviga- 
tion, and thus bringing the similar productions of various nations 
into competition in common markets, population is crowding on 
subsistence in many countries, so rapidly as to oblige them to 
study intensely how to increase the fruits of the earth which 
constitute that subsistence. The statesmen of Great Britain and 
continental Europe have already employed science to check the 
tide of an impoverishing and exhausting emigration. Even, 
therefore, if we should continue to neglect agricultural improve- 
ment, England, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and 
Russia, would not. They must improve, are improving, and will 
continue to improve, agriculture ; and if we neglect to follow — 

8* 



178 SELECTIONS. 

ay, and if we fail to keep up witli them in that improvement, 
they will not only exclude us from foreign markets, but will 
even ultimately undersell us in our own. A pretty figure we 
should make in that case. This is what they are already doing 
in manufactures, and by the process I have indicated. 

I think that there is no lack of schools and seminaries and 
professorships, adapted and qualified for advancing and dissem- 
inating agricultural science. Our present seminaries, and the 
teachers of natural science in them, are quite sufficient ; and 
text-books, guides to experiment, and laboratories, are not want- 
ing in the covmtry. What then is wanting ? Only pupils. The 
students in all our seminaries, intent on — not agricultural pursuits, 
but what are called the learned or liberal professions — rush by 
the agricultural chair, to attend to instructions in mathematics, 
rhetoric, and classical literature. Certainly the professor ceases 
to explore for new acquisitions, when no one will listen to his 
expositions of what he already has. A desire to communicate 
to others, is always combined with the passion for the pursuit 
of knowledge. 

Why then are there no pupils ? The fault — again I pray 
you — pardon my boldness — the fault is chiefly with the farmers 
themselves. A farm, of course, is necessary to him who is to be 
a farmer. Generally, only farmers' sons have or expect farms, 
and so they are the class who must supply the candidates for 
the profession of farming. But the farmers' sons are generally 
averse from scientific study. There is a general prejudice that 
agriculture is a simple, easy art or trade, which can be taken up 
and practised without academic instruction or systematical ap- 
prenticeship, and that theoretic precepts serve only to mislead 
and bewilder. 

On the contrary, Nature has left all the human faculties in 
one sense incomplete, to be perfected by general education and 
by training for special and distinct pursuits. She has left those 
faculties not less incomplete, and without adaptation, in the far- 
mers' case than in any other. Her laws are general and inflex- 
ible. Brutes only have perfect instincts. Man can do nothing 
well, and indeed can do nothing at all, but by the guidance of 
cultivated reason. Notwithstanding admitted differences of nat- 
ural capacity, and of tastes and inclinations, it is nevertheless 



• • AGRICULTURE. 179 

practically and generally true, that success, and even distinction 
and eminence, in any vocation, are proportioned to the measure 
of culture, training, industry, and perseverance, brought into ex- 
ercise. So he will be the best farmer, and even the best woods- 
man or well-digger, as he will be the best lawyer, the greatest 
hero, or the greatest statesman, who shall have studied most 
widely and most profoundly, and shall have labored most care- 
fully and most assiduously. 

There is another prejudice even more injurious than that 
which I have thus exposed. The farmer's son is averse from 
the farmer's calling. He does not intend to pursue it, and is 
always looking for some gate by which to escape from it. The 
prejudice is hereditary in the farmhouse. The farmer himself 
is not content with his occupation ; nor is the farmer's wife any 
more so. They regard it as an humble, laborious, and toilsome 
one ; they continually fret about its privations and hardships, and 
thus they unconsciously raise in their children a disgust toward 
it. Is not this at least frequently so 1 Is there a farmer here 
who does not desire, not to say seek, to procure for his son a 
cadet's or midshipman's warrant, a desk in the village-lawyer's 
office, a chair in the physician's study, or a place behind the 
counter in the country store, in preference to training him to the 
labors of the farm ? I fear that there is scarcely a farmer's son 
who would not fly to accept such a position, or a farmer's daugh- 
ter who would not prefer almost any settlement in town or city, 
•to the domestic cares of the farmhouse and the dairy. 

Whence is this prejudice ? It has come down to us from ages 
of barbarism. In the savage state, agricultural labor is despised, 
because bravery in battle, and skill in the chase, must be en- 
couraged ; and so heroism is still requisite for the public defence 
in the earlier stages of civilization, and the tiller of the soil, 
therefore, rises slowly from the condition of a villein, a serf, or 
a slave. Nevertheless, ancient, and almost universal, as this 
prejudice is, I am sure that it is unnatural to mankind in ripened 
civilization, such as that at which we have amved. Of all classes 
of men, we practically have the least need of hunters ; and we 
employ very few soldiers, while the whole structure of society 
hinges on the agricultural interest. A taste, nay. a passion for 
agriculture, is inherent and universal among men. The soldier 



180 SELECTIONS. 

or the sailor cares little for learning, mechanism, or music ; but 
the solaces of his weary watchings and his midnight dreams are 
recollections and hopes of a cottage-home. The merchant's 
anxieties and the lawyer's studies are prosecuted patiently for 
the ultimate end of graceful repose in a country-seat ; and luna- 
tics, men and women, are won back to the sway of reason by 
the indulgence of labor in the harvest-field, and the culture of 
fruits and flowers in the gardens of the asylum. 

I know that frivolous persons, in what is called fashionable 
society, who sleep till noon, still continue to depreciate and 
despise rural pursuits and pleasures. But what are the opinions 
of such minds worth ? They equally depreciate and despise all 
labor, all industry, all enterprise, and all effort ; and they reap 
their just reward in weariness of themselves, and in -the con- 
tempt of those Avho value human talents, not by the depth in 
which they are buried, but by the extent of their employment 
for the benefit of mankind. 

The prejudice, however, must be expelled from the farmer's 
fireside : and the farmer and his wife must do this themselves. 
It is as true in this case as in the more practical one which the 
rustic poet had in view : — 

"The wife too must hnsband, as well as the man; 
Or farewell thy husbandly, do what thoxi can." 

Let them remember, that, in well-constituted and highly-ad- 
vanced society like ours, intellectual cultivation relieves men 
from labor, but it does not at all exempt them from the prac- 
tice of industry ; that, on the contrary, it obliges the universal 
exercise of industry ; and that, notwithstanding the current use 
of the figures of speech, " wearied limbs, sweating brows, hard- 
ened sinews, and rough and blackened hands," there is no avo- 
cation in our country that rewards so liberally with health, 
wealth, and honor, a given application of well-directed industry, 
as does that of the farmer. If he is surpassed by persons in 
other pursuits, it is not because their avocations are preferable 
to his own, but because, while he has neglected education and 
training, they have taken care to secure both. 

When these convictions shall have entered the farmhouse, its 
respectability and dignity will be confessed. Its occupants will 
regard their dwellings and grounds, not as scenes of irksome 



AGRICULTURE. 181 

and Immiliatiiig- labor, but as their own permanent homes, and 
the homesteads of then- children and their posterity. Affections 
unknown before, and new-born emulation, will suggest motives 
to improvement, embellishment, refinement, with the introduc- 
tion of useful and elegant studies and arts which will render the 
paternal roof, as it ought to be, attractive to the young, and tlie 
farmer's life harmonious to their tastes and satisfactory to their 
ambition. Then the farmer's sons will desire and demand edu- 
cation as liberal as that now chiefly conferred on candidates for 
professional life, and will subject themselves to discipline, in 
acquiring the art of agriculture, as rigorous as that endured by 
those who apprentice themselves to other vocations. 

Then, with the certain improvement of agriculture, we shall 
have the improvement and elevation of the agricultural class of 
American society. Have you considered how much that class 
renounce in denying themselves the self-improvement I have 
urged] Have you considered that in practice they widely 
renounce the functions of representation in the conduct of the 
government in favor of other classes, no more privileged than 
their own ? This is unnecessary, unwise, unsafe ; indeed, it is 
not republican — it is not American. In nearly all civilized 
states, the farmers, or those who cultivated the soil, have consti- 
tuted far the greater part of the population. The chief control 
of society and government, then, it would seem, should, of right, 
have been vested in them. Yet, in truth, they have never, since 
the age of the patriarchs, attained any such control, except just 
here, and just now. In Great Britain they divide authority, but 
are overbalanced by merchants, manufacturers, and privileged 
classes. Notwithstanding modern constitutional concessions to 
them in France, they are nevertheless ruled there ? alternately 
by the city population and the array. In Germany, by the 
army. In parts of Italy, by the church ; and in Russia they 
are slaves. 

It has always -been otherwise here. Farmers planted these 
colonies — all of them — and organized their governments. They 
were farmers who defied the British soldiery on Bunker hill 
and drove them back from Lexington. They were farmers — 
ay, Vermont farmers, who captured the fortress at Ticonde- 
roga, and accepted its capitulation in the name of the "Great 



182 SELECTIONS. 

Jehovah and the Continental Congress," and thus gave over 
the first fortified post to the cause of the devolution. They 
were farmers who checked British power at Saratoga, and 
broke it in pieces like a potter's vessel at Yorktown. They 
were farmers who reorganized the several states and the fed- 
eral government, and established them all on the principles 
of equality and affiliation. In every state, and in the whole 
Union, they constitute the broad electoral faculty, and by their 
preponderating suffrages, the vast and complex machine is per- 
petually sustained and kept in regular motion and operation. 
That it is in the main well administered, we all know by expe- 
rienced security and happiness; that it might be better adminis-' 
tered, our perpetual and intense passion for change fully proves ; 
that it is administered no better, results from what ? From the 
fact that the electoral body, the farmers, intelligent and patri- 
otic as they are, may nevertheless become more inteUigent and 
more patriotic than they now are. The more intelligent and 
patriotic they become, the more effective will be their control, 
and the Aviser their direction of the government. Is there not 
room ? Nay, is there not need for more activity, energy, and 
efficiency, on their part, for their own security and welfare ? In 
the federal government, commerce has its minister and depart- 
ment, the law its organ and representative, and the arts their 
commissioner and bureau. But the vast interest of agriculture 
has only a single desk and a subordinate clerk in the basement 
of the patent-office. It is scarcely better in the states. An 
empty charter of incorporation, with a scanty endowment, con- 
stitutes substantially all that has been anywhere done for agri- 
culture. Gentlemen, I like not that it should be so. Our nation 
is rolling forward in a high career, exposed to shocks and dan- 
gers. It needs the utmost wisdom and virtue to guide it safely ; 
it needs the steady and enlightened direction which, of all others, 
the farmers of the United States can best exercise, because, 
being freeholders invested with equal power of suffrage, they 
are at once the most liberal and the most conservative element 
in the country. — Address before Vermont Agricultural Society y 
Rutla7id, Sept. 2, 1852. 



AGRICULTURE. 183 



Ei)t Same. 



But, gentlemen, in whatever direction your efforts may be 
made, you Avill encounter difficulties and discouragements. You 
■will be opposed by that contented spirit which regards every 
improvement as innovation, and which perpetually, though 
falsely, complains that mankind degenerate without making an 
effort to, check the progress of error. You will be regarded as 
visionary by those who consider skill in acquiring, and success 
in retaining wealth, as the perfection of human wisdom ; but 
you will remember that such as these seldom bestow their coun- 
tenance upon the benefactors of mankind, nor does Fortune 
always distinguish them by her favors. Robert Morris, a finan- 
cier of the Revolution, died a bankrupt. Christopher Oolles, our 
efficient advocate of inland navigation in the last century, was 
interred by private charity in the Strangers' burying-ground. 
The essays of Jesse Hawley, which demonstrated the feasibility 
and importance of a continuous canal from Lake Erie to the 
Hudson river, were sent forth from a debtor's prison ; and De 
Witt Clinton, whose name is written upon the capital of every 
column of our social edifice, was indebted to private hospitality 
for a tomb. It is the same generous and patriotic spirit which 
animated those philanthropists, and sustained them in their 
straggles with the prejudices of the age in which they lived, 
that I desire to invoke in favor of agriculture. This spirit, 
wisely directed, can not fail, for it has been irresistible in every 
department it has hitherto entered. But let us all remember 
that the only true way to begin reform is to find the source of 
error ; and that if we cultivate man, the improvement of the 
animal and vegetable kingdoms will surely follow. — Address be- 
fore N. Y. State Agricultural Society, Albany, Sept. 29, 1842. 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 



Xntemal Jlmprobcmcnt tfje 3Policn ot tlje jFounticvs of tljt 3^e|)ui)lic. 

The principle of internal improvement derives its existence 
from the generous impulses of the revolutionary age. It regards 
the future welfare, prosperity, and happiness of the people. Its 
agency is everywhere salutary in encouraging emigration and 
the settlement and improvement of new lands, in augmenting 
national wealth, in promoting agriculture, commerce, manufac- 
tures, and the diffusion of knowledge, and in strengthening the 
bonds of our national Union. It is recited in the Declaration of 
Independence as one of the wrongs committed by the king of 
England, that he had endeavored to prevent the population of 
these states, and for that purpose had obstructed the laws for 
the naturalization of foreigners, had refused to pass others to 
encourage their migration hither, and had raised the condition 
of new appropriations of lands. The father of his country could 
have had none of the modern skepticism when in his first mes- 
sage to Congress he recommended a facilitation of the intercourse 
between distant parts of the country by a due attention to the 
postoffice and postroads. The population of the United States 
was confined for almost two centuries to the Atlantic coast, but 
the mighty mind of Washington perceived that a region far 
more extended, fertile, and salubrious, lay beyond the borders of 
the thirteen states ; that inasmuch as the sovereignty of the 
Union was distributed among the cultivators of the earth, the 
political power of the government would find a centre in that 
region ; that if the natural barriers between that region and the 
East should remain unchanged the West would at no distant pe- 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 185 

riod cast off its union witli tlie maritime states : but that if the 
natural barriers could be surmounted by roads and pierced by- 
canals, connecting the inland navigation of lakes and rivers 
with tidewater, the wealth and population of the whole' country 
would be vastly increased, and the states be bound together in 
an indissoluble union of interest and affection. Imbued with 
these sentiments, he stopped not in his farewell address to dis- 
cuss or to recommend his favorite policy, but boldly predicted as 
a certain event that progressive improvement of interior com- 
munication by land and water, the auspicious results of which are 
only just beginning to be reahzed. It is a fact as interesting a? 
it is instructive that the solicitude of the father of his country 
knew no rest after the achievement of her independence, but 
passed directly from the cares of that great struggle to the 
greater and even more glorious work of strengthening the union 
of the states and perpetuating their liberties. In 1783, immedi- 
ately after the close of the Avar, he proceeded up the difficult 
navigation of the MohaAvk to Fort Stanwix, now the site of the 
town of Rome, and crossed to Wood creek, which empties into 
Oneida lake and affords an imperfect communication with Lake 
Ontario. The noble and patriotic sentiments inspired by his ob- 
servations were thus expressed : " Taking a contemplative and 
extensive view of the vast inland navigation of the United States, 
I could not but be struck with the immense diffusion and impor- 
tance of it, and the goodness of that Providence who had dealt 
his favors to us with so profuse a hand. "Would to God we may 
have wisdom to improve them !" The connection of Lake On- 
tario with the Hudson by perfect canals instead of the difficult 
and obsti-ucted navigation of the Mohawk and Wood creek, the 
mingling of the waters of Lake Erie Avith those of the same no- 
ble river by means of a canal, the conversion of Fort Stanwix 
into the centre of a constellation of cities and villages, AAnth all 
the consequent benefits of those improvements, reflect additional 
glory upon the fame of Washington, and prove that the efforts 
of this state in fulfilment of his noble aspiration have been 
crowned with the blessing of that Great Being to whom it was 
addressed. His contemporary, Jefferson, one of the most saga- 
cious of American statesmen as well as one of the most ardent 
votaries of liberty, pronounced roads, canals, and rivers, to be 



186 SELECTIONS. 

great. foundations of national prosperity and union, and recom- 
mended to Congress the policy of applying the surplus revenues 
arising from imposts upon luxuries and from the sale of the 
public lands, to the great purposes of public education, the im- 
provement of the navigation of rivers, the construction of roads 
and canals, and such other objects of public improvement as it 
might be thought proper to add to the constitutional enumera- 
tion of the federal powers : operations by which, as he well 
remarked, new channels of communication would be opened be- 
tween the states, the lines of their separation would disappear, 
their interests would be identified, and their union cemented by 
new and indissoluble ties. 

It is worthy of remark, that none of the distinguished founders 
of American liberty stopped to calculate the question of revenue 
when they recommended this enlightened policy, designed to 
increase the prosperity and cement the Union of the states. The 
distinction between internal improvements and measures of pub- 
lic defence upon the ground that the former can not as rightfully 
be carried on with the revenues of the state, or with the use of 
its credit, as the latter is a refinement of modern times. The 
statesmen of the Eevolution evidently regarded free intercom- 
munication as one of the means of national defence. Had it 
been then understood as is now asserted, that internal improve- 
ment is a departure from the legitimate power of government, 
the opposition of the British king to emigration and his raising 
the conditions of new appropriations of land, would have 
found no reprobation in the Declaration of Independence, and 
the improvement of roads and rivers at the public expense would 
not subsequently have obtained an equal place with the promo- 
tion of public education in the executive recommendations of 
Washington and Jefferson. No such absurdity was then con- 
ceived as the proposition that while a nation may employ its rev- 
enues and credit in carrying on war, in suppressing sedition, and 
in punishing crime, it can not employ the same means to avert 
the calamities of war, provide for the public security, prevent 
sedition, improve the public morals, and increase the general 
happiness. — Annual Message, 1840. 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 187 



Kntcrnal Kmprobement Wis2 antr aSentRcent. 

When we look abroad through our country, and regard the 
improvements already completed, and the struggling efforts 
which are put forth by intelligent and patriotic men, with little 
of popular support or sympathy, in favor of others — and when 
we mark how surely and how speedily increased wealth and 
prosperity, and moral, social, and intellectual refinement, have 
followed the accomphshment of every enterprise which has been 
consummated — it seems passing strange that every advance of 
the system should have been contested against the incredulity 
of the people, and with a consent wrung from a hesitating and 
reluctant government. Hitherto the merit of the founders and 
advocates of the system has been enhanced more by their triumphs 
over popular prejudice and legislative repugnance than by their 
forecast of the rich blessings they called down upon their coun- 
try. We will not question either the necessity or the wisdom 
of the decision by which the great system of internal improve- 
ment has, with the apparent consent of the people, been rejected 
from among the responsibilities of the general government, inter- 
ested as that government is to secure the union of the states, and 
enriched as it is with the entire national domain and the exhaust- 
less resources of the commerce which owes its prosperity to that 
very system. But it is manifestly our right, as it is our duty, to 
carry forward the system with such agency and under such patron- 
age and sanction as the popular w^ill recognises as legitimate for 
that purpose. It seems now to be settled that the agency consists 
in the combination of individual effort, under the sanction and 
patronage of the state government. To eveiy region of our 
state the legislature owes a paternal care in this respect ; and 
its obligations are only limited by the condition of its resources, 
and the question whether such improvements as are contempla- 
ted will advance the public weal. We must expect to encounter 
local prejudices ; but these, when disclosed, are seldom able to 
defeat a meritorious enterprise. We must be prepared, by gen- 
erous and lofty motives, and patriotic and expanded views, to 
overcome the more formidable opposition which arises from an 
honeat but often unwise appHcation of republican economy. 



188 SELECTIONS. 

It is well to remember that the experience of human govern- 
ment affords not a solitary instance in which a state or nation 
became impoverished or subjected to an irredeemable debt by- 
works of internal improvement. Ambition, revenge, and lust 
for extended territory, have been the only causes, and war al- 
most the sole agent in entailing those calamities upon nations. 
Palaces and pyramids, the luxurious dwellings of living tyrants, 
and the receptacles of their worthless ashes when dead, have in 
every country, but our own, cost more than all its canals and 
roads. Ancient Egypt and ancient Eome, modem Netherlands, 
England, and France, and even our own peace-loving country 
(and these include the lands where art has expended the 
greatest effort in internal improvement), have severally disbursed 
more in a single war than was required to complete a system of 
improvements sufficient to perfect their union, wealth, and pow- 
er, and enable them to defy invasion or aggression. Internal 
improvement, then, is the antagonist cause of national luxury 
and of war. It commands the support of those who would be- 
nevolently advance the greatest happiness of the greatest num- 
ber, as well as the efforts of those who would increase the na- 
tional power, elevate the national glory, and extend the sway 
of public virtue. A cause so catholic, so enlightened, so benev- 
olent, may well engage the exertions of all good, wise, and pa- 
triotic citizens. It may often encounter hinderances, not only in 
the fluctuations of commerce, but from the drooping of popular 
feeling, and the diversity of local interests. But it may be main- 
tained by the exercise of that perseverance which alone crowns 
with success the agency of human powers, and is itself little less 
than a positive virtue. — Address, N. Y. and Erie Railroad Con- 
vention, Elmira, 1837. 



internal Kmprobcmcnt ttje a^eal Source of tljc iaposperiti) of Wcto 
"STorfe, anlr tjc onlj) Sure aSonti of SEniou of tje States. 

When will the people of the state of New York learn to know 
and comprehend their own strength and their own resources ? 
The New York and Erie railroad, which ought to have been 
built for eight or ten millions, has been made, by delays and 
consequent charges and loss of interest, to cost twenty millions ! 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 189 

The Erie canal enlargement, which ought to have been con- 
structed for about the latter sum, is prosecuted with timidity and 
even distrust, increasing its cost twofold, and postponing its ben- 
efits till those who must pay for it shall have gone down to their 
graves. 

Even now they tell us New York must hold in her breath, 
and forbear from speaking aloud for truth and justice, for fear 
of losing her trade and commerce. Her trade and commerce 
came to her, by no suppression of her principles and her senti- 
ments, but were drawn to her by her Atlantic position, and by 
her rivers, and her canals and railroads. They came not from 
favor, but because she of all others could pay most for what 
others had to sell, and could sell cheaper what others wished to 
buy. Her trade and commerce are held now on this tenure 
and condition, and in that lies the secret of the commercial su- 
premacy of New York. 

What is that secret ] Statesmen and citizens of other states, 
here it is ! Here is Lake Erie. Stretchmg away for thousands 
of miles to the west lies the continent. Then almost at your 
feet is the Atlantic, the key of that continent. Far away in the 
east is the Old World, famishing for the supplies which that 
new country can supply. Here on the lakes which receive 
these supplies, and bear them in sloops, schooners, brigs, ships, 
and steam-vessels, and deposite them here on this isthmus, some 
three or four hundred miles wide, over which or through which 
they must be carried to the banks of the Atlantic coast, where 
other sloops, schooners, brigs, ships, and steamships, are waiting 
to Avaft them to Liverpool and London, and bring back the com- 
pensation to the cultivator. New York has only to cut a canal 
across this narrow isthmus, which is almost one continuous plain 
— a channel broad enough and deep enough to carry across the 
freight of the west which is to be transported to the east. A 
channel how large ] Manifestly a ship-canal, because the com- 
merce on the lakes and on the sea employs fleets, and nothing 
less than ship-channels from Lake Erie and Lake Ontario would 
be adequate. 

The Erie canal, the Central railroad, the Northern railroad, 
and last, but by no means least, this great Southern railroad, all 
together contribute to that one great channel which New York 



190 SELECTIONS. 

has opened across the isthmus, enlarging it continually with the 
growing exactions of commerce, adopting at the same time the 
improvements suggested by art. 

This command of the commerce of this continent is the dowry 
of New York. All our merchants who were merchants have 
always- understood it ; all our statesmen who were statesmen 
have always labored to realize it. Those merchants who were 
not merchants have built their enterprises on it unknowingly, 
and those statesmen who were not statesmen have labored to 
build the power and greatness of the state on other and unsub- 
stantial foundations. This secret, however, was not the discov- 
ery of our own statesmen. It preceded them all. It revealed 
itself to Washington in 1783, when he had made his way, at 
the close of the war of the Revolution, up the Hudson and the 
Mohawk, and along Wood creek, and Oneida lake, and the 
Mad river, to the shore of Lake Ontario at Oswego. The sea 
was behind him, the lakes stretched away before him ; his feet 
were on the isthmus. The secret broke upon him, and he gave 
utterance to it at once in a letter to the marquis of Chastellux, 
which has long since gone into history. How came the secret 
to break itself to the father of our country ? I will iell you how. 
He was seeking security for the union of the states which was 
so soon to cover this continent. He found that guaranty in 
commercial union, and he saw that commercial union lising out 
of the canals and roads which New York might constnict across 
the isthmus on which he stood. 

Thus it is seen that we have only been executing the plans 
which wise and patriotic men designed for us long ago. We 
have only been too timid and too slow. In 1800, Gouverneur 
Morris predicted that in fifty years ships would sail out of Lake 
Erie, through the Hudson, to Liverpool. The half century is 
up, and the prediction is unfulfilled. Shame upon us ! It might 
have been fulfilled, and ought to have been fulfilled in 1846, 
and would have been, if the public works had not been unneces- 
sarily and unduly abandoned. Gouverneur Morris promised 
only a revenue of one and a quarter millions of dollars from the 
whole navigation across the isthmus. One boat-canal and our 
railroads, which are only the imperfect fulfilment of his plan of 
navigation, are yielding already nearly five millions. 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 191 

It is due to the truth of history to confess that the city of New- 
York was slow to comprehend this great pohcy and her own 
great destiny. The state forced the Erie canal upon the city in 
spite of herself. The city of New York never gave a vote for 
the Erie canal until twelve years after its original construction. 
But it is equally true that the state then faltered and fell away, 
leaving the system to fall into ruins ; and its wrecks still present 
themselves to our view along all the routes of the canals and 
along the route of this great railroad. But then it was that the 
merchants of New York, who were merchants, came to the res- 
cue. Their city had trebled in population and quadrupled in 
wealth within twenty-five years by the operation of the Erie 
canal. They then made returns to the state for this great boon, 
by the construction of the New York and Erie railroad, which 
will serve to supply the deficiency of facilities for the commerce 
which grows faster than we can enlarge its channel. 

The suspension of this work in their hands on former occa- 
sions was the result of causes beyond their control. The com- 
mercial embarrassments of 1837 resulted in the suspension, not 
of this enterprise alone, but in the suspension of every enterprise 
of the sort in this state and in all other states, except that in- 
domitable and noble state, Massachusetts. The resumption and 
completion of it, after it had lost the public confidence and the 
favor of the state, are worthy to be held in respect and admira- 
tion by all men. All honor, then, to the merchants of New 
York ! I, whom they do not flatter, and who do not hesitate to 
say what I think to be the truth to them, am free to confess and 
to own before the world that they are the builders of the power 
and greatness of the state, and the saviors of the union of the 
states. But they do all this, not by going down to Castle-Gar- 
den to resolve in favor of the Union, but by building canals and 
railroads, to increase the freedom of inland trade, and swell to 
its utmost limits foreign commerce. 

For my part, I have faith and trust in the wisdom and adap- 
tation of this noble system of union established by our fathers. 
I have faith unbroken in the loyalty of the people of all the 
states, in any hour of trial. I repose the fullest confidence in 
their patriotism. Let these bonds of union remain, and let me 
see this isthmus on Avhich we stand, channelled and fun-owed 



192 SELECTIONS. 

by a river wide enough and deep enough to convey the products 
of the west with the least cost to the vessels which wait for them 
on the Atlantic. Let me never fail to "see these iron chains 
forged and cast upon the territory within the several states, bind- 
ing it together with new and durable links as it grows broader 
and broader, and I shall care not who may agitate, nor shall I 
fear the utmost extension. The Union will be safe, for its se- 
curity will be anchored in the necessities and affections of the 
states and of the people. — Remarks at Celebration of Comple- 
tion of N, Y. and Erie Railroad, Dimkirk, May 15, 1851.. 

9rt)c Sus;)ensfon of tt)c iSublic WSSax'tn of Webj Yorfe ©ohtiemneU 
anti tljct'c l^csumptfon B^ecommcntrcti. 

The fourth day of July last completed a quarter of a century 
since the system of internal improvements was undertaken by 
this state. Within that period artificial navigation has been 
opened throughout distances equal to eight hundred and three 
miles : and animal power in transportation has given place to the 
steam engine on routes seven hundred and fifty-seven miles in 

length Our revenues have been increased from four hundred 

and nineteen thousand and nine hundred dollars in 1817 to one 
million, nine hundred and fifty-two thousand in 1841 ; our school 
and literature funds have been doubled ; the remote districts of 
thestate have become the homes of an intelligent and industrious 
population ; four flourishing cities and upward of a hundred incor- 
porated villages have been called into existence ; our commer- 
cial emporium has trebled in population and added one hundred 
and seventy millions to its wealth ; the revenues, commerce, and 
physical strength, of the whole commonwealth have been aug- 
mented in almost an equal proportion ; and the states are bound 
together with bands stronger than those of merely political com- 
pact, and the danger of dismemberment is happily averted. 
New York was the projector of the system which, though yet 
incomplete, has produced these wonderful results ; and she may 
point to it as a column designed and shaped by herself, to 
strengthen and perpetuate the national structure. 

But the high career of prosperous and well-directed enter- 
prise has been brought to a sudden and humiliating close. For 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. VX\ 

the first time in the quarter of ca century whicli lias elapsed since 
the ground was broken for the Erie canal, a governor of the 
state of New York, in meeting the legislature, finds himself una- 
ble to announce the continued progress of improvement. The 
officers charged with the care of the public works, have arrested 
all proceedings in the enlargement of the Erie canal and the 
construction of the auxiliary works. The New York and Erie 
railroad, with the exception of forty-six miles from the eastern 
termination, lies in unfinished fragments throughout the lou"- 
line of southern counties stretching four hundred miles from the 
Walkill to Lake Erie. The Genesee valley canal, excepting the 
portion between Dansville and Rochester, also lies in hopeless 
abandonment. The Black river canal, which was more than 
two thirds completed during the last year, has been left wholly 
unavailable. As if this were not enough, two railroads toward 
the construction of which the state had contributed half a million 
of dollars, and public-spirited citizens large sums in addition, 
have been brought to a forced sale, and sacrificed with an almost 
total loss to the treasury, without yielding any indemnity to the 
stockholders, and without even securing a guaranty that the 
people would be permitted to enjoy the use of the improve- 
ments. 

The painful emotions excited by the condition to which the 
public works are thus reduced, might be somewhat relieved if 
there were any well-grounded hope that their prosecution would 
be resumed within any reasonable period. But the provisions 
of the law suspending those works, as well as the contemporane- 
ous expositions of the grounds on which it was enacted, with 
every rational view which can be taken of its tendency forbid 
any such expectation. The policy of the act plainly is, that the 
debt of the state shall in no event be increased for the prosecu- 
tion of improvements ; nay, further, that the whole of the exist- 
ing debts shall be extinguished before any additional sum shall 
be borrowed, and that the accruing revenues, instead of being 
appropriated, as heretofore, to the prosecution of the works, shall 
be henceforth applied exclusively to the establishment of a fund 
for the extinguishment of the existing debts, although, with small 
exceptions, those debts are redeemable only at distant periods. 
It is but too apparent that these provisions render any further 

9 



194 SELECTIONS. 

progress in our public works wholly impracticable. The present 
generation, if this law continues, must abandon all hopes of see- 
ing the system resumed, and it will only remain for them to pay 
the whole cost of the works, in a great degree useless because 
left unfinished, and hastening rapidly to dilapidation and ruin. 

The objects which the legislature had in view, in directing 
the suspension of the public works were declared to be to 
pay the debts of the state, and preserve its credit. The means 
of paying the debts are derived from revenues and taxes. 
But the state, so far from diminishing, has increased its indebt- 
edness, by becoming liable to contractors for heavy damages 
which might have been avoided by prosecuting the works ; while, 
by discontinuing the necessary enlargement of the Erie canal, the 
increase of revenues hitherto so constant and so confidently relied 
upon for the reimbursement of the debts, is checked, and must 

ultimately cease Nor has the expectation of restoring 

the stocks of the state to their former high valuation been ade- 
quately realized, and certainly not to any extent commensurate 
with the sacrifices which have been made. The fiscal officers 
of the state are not now able to negotiate loans, even at seven 
per cent., except occasionally for small amounts. Under these 
circumstances, the inquiry arises whether the policy thus at- 
tempted ought to be continued. An imperative sense of duty 
compels me again to declare my conviction that it is radically 
wrong, and that eiToneous views have been taken of the causes 

of our embarrassment. 

******** 

The people, however, look not for temporary or partial rehef, 
but for the re-establishment of the system of internal improve- 
ment upon broad and impregnable foundations. Our felloAv-citi- 
jzens urge us to resume the public works, by pleading the dis- 
tress which their suspension has already produced. They point 
us to labor unemployed and to masses impoverished ; to agricul- 
ture unrewarded and burdened; to trade diminished and dis- 
couraged ; to credit paralyzed ; to land and property depreciated, 
and passing from hands hardened with the labor of production 
into others that wait to gather the ripened fruits of industry : to 
disappointed expectations built on the public faith, which no 
damages can reach or compensate; to dilapidated structures 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 195 

with increasing expenditures ; to diminished revenues and pro- 
tracted taxation ; to increasing and hopeless embarrassment 
and decaying enterprise ; and to a long and cheerless decline 
from a career in which so much has been won for the interests 
and honor of the state. 

But we need no such painful incentives. Progressive physi- 
cal improvement comprehending the North as well as the South, 
the East and the West opening every necessary channel and 
disclosing every resource which nature has bestowed, is emphat- 
ically the policy of the state. And we are required to return to 
the course we have left, by every consideration of duty to our- 
selves, to posterity, to our country, and to mankind. — Mes- 
sage, Extra Sessiofi, 1842. 

t^feto "STovfe anlr iRflassaci)u»ctts.'' 

Mai/ it please your Excellency, Gentle??ie?i of the Senate and of 
the House of Representatives of the General Court of Massa- 
chusetts : 

In the name of the senate and of the assembly of New York, 
in my own behalf, and as well for the absent as for those pres- 
ent, with whom I have the honor to be associated in the affairs 
of that state, I tender to you acknowledgments for this cordial 
and fraternal welcome. Representatives are here from our com- 
mercial metropolis and our agricultural districts ; from tlie sea- 
coast and the shores of our lakes ; and from the valleys of the 
Susquehanna, the Delaware, the Hudson, and the St. Lawrence; 
and their unanimity warrants me in tendering these salutations 
in the name of the people of New York. • 

Not to know the wisdom, moderation, and virtue, of your 
counsels, Avould argue us unobservant of the prosperity and 
tranquillity of your commonwealth. I congratulate you, sir, 
the chief magistrate of that commonwealth [his excellency JoHiN 
Davis], upon this conjunction of two stars in our constellation as 
an event that will for ever signalize your career of public service. 

* The completion of the railroad between Boston and Albany was cele- 
brated by a meeting of the legislatures of Massachusetts and New York at 
Springfield, Massachusetts, in March, 1842, on which occasion Governor 
Seward delivered this speech. 



196 SELECTIONS. 

Shall I not confess that the invitation which brought us here 
excited our surprise ? We had supposed that we were on the 
very eastern verge, and that all the broad and boundless West 
lay between us and the setting sun. But this improvement, 
which you have so strangely called the Western railroad, has 
changed our position, and we must now acknowledge ourselves 
your western brethren. 

We of New York are not a unique, or a primitive, or even 
a homogeneous people. We trace no common lineage to an 
unmingled ancestry. • The colony of New Netherlands, which 
was the nucleus of our state, has received accumulations from 
England, from Ireland, Scotland, Germany, France, Poland, 
and from every other land, in modern Europe, where man 
has suffered oppression, or arbitrary power has attempted to 
subject his conscience. The nervous languages of the upper 
and the lower Rhine, and the softer dialects of the Mediter- 
ranean, mingle in our streets and in our distant settlements. 
Among us, he alone is of peculiar birth whose blood allies him 
to only one fatherland. It is one of our cares, by the agency 
of benign and equal institutions, to assimilate all these various 
masses, and reduce them to one great, harmonious, united, and 
happy people. Judge, then, with what interest we regard a com- 
munity to whom such efforts are unnecessary and unknown — a 
community who, descended from a common stock, have for two 
centuries remained separate from other portions of their race, 
and retained throughout all that time the primitive virtues, ener- 
gies, customs, forms, and habits, of their ancestors. 

The impress of the New-England schoolmaster is seen every- 
where in our* state, and you might obtain .an acknowledgment 
from each one of her representatives here that he has profited 
by that teacher's instructions. Having thus known the school- 
master, it was among our motive^ to this visit that we should 
see the land whence he went abroad, and become acquainted 
with the people whose ancestors erected a church simultaneously 
with their dwellings, and a university within twelve years after 
their landing at Plymouth. 

Nor can we forget that it was Massachusetts that encountered 
first and suffered most from the tyranny which resulted in our 
national independence ; that the first blood shed in that sacred 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 197 

cause flowed at Lexington ; and that Liberty's earliest rampart 
was established upon Bunker's hill. Nevertheless the struggles 
and sacrifices of Massachusetts have until now been known to 
us through traditions not her own, and they still seem to have 
been those of a distant though an allied people — of a country 
separated from us by mountain-barriers such as divide every 
continent into states and empires. But what a change is here ! 
This mornhig's sun was just greeting the site of old Fort Orange 
as we took our leave ; and now, when he has scarcely reached 
the meridian, we have crossed our hitherto impassable barrier, 
and have met you here on the shore of the Connecticut, the 
battle-ground of King Philip's cruel wars : and before that sun 
shall set, we might ascend the heights of Charlestown, or rest 
upon the rock that was' wet with the blood that flowed from the 
weary feet of the pilgrim-fathers. 

Sir, you have well set forth the benefits which will result to 
you, to us, to our country, and to mankind, from the triumph of 
modern science over the physical obstructions to intercourse 
between the American communities. I can advert to but one 
of these results — the increasing strength of the states, and the 
perpetuity of their union. New York, Massachusetts, and her 
sister-states of New England, will no longer be merely confed- 
erated states. Their interests, their affections, and their sym- 
pathies, will now be intermingled — and a common and invisible 
destiny, whether of good or evil, awaits them all. Had such 
connections existed when the British throne attempted to abridge 
the rights of the colonies, what power could have wounded 
Massachusetts when New York could have nished to her de- 
fence ? Could Great Britain and her savage allies have scourged 
so severely our infant settlements upon the Mohawk and the 
Susquehanna, if New England could have gone to their relief? 
How vain will be any attempt hereafter to array us against 
each other ! Since Providence has been pleased to permit these 
states to be thus joined together, who shall put them asuncier] 

You have rightly assumed that on this occasion we indulge 
no jealousies of your prosperity, and no apprehensions of losing 
our power or influence. The Hudson is beautiful in our eyes, 
for it flows through the land of our birth, and our institutions 
and marts overhang its waters. But if its shores be not the 



198 SELECTIONS. 

true and proper seat of commerce and of empire, or if wo 
have not the virtues and the energies necessary to retain our 
vantage-ground, we shall not try to check the prosperity or the 
political ascendency of our sister-states. Far from indulging 
such unworthy thoughts, we regard this and every other im- 
provement as calculated to promote our own prosperity, and, 
what is far more important than the advancement of our state 
or of yours, the union and harmony of the whole American fam- 
ily. The bond that brings us into so close connection is capa- 
ble of being extended from your coast to the Mississippi, and of 
being fastened around not only Kew York and the first thirteen, 
but all the twenty-six states. This is the policy of New York, 
and her ambition. We rejoice in your co-operation, and invite 
its continuance, until alarms of disunion shall be among the 
obsolete dangers of the republic. 

New York has been addressed here in language of magna- 
nimity. It would not become me to speak of her position, her 
resources, or her influence. And yet I may, without offending 
the delicacy of her representativ^es here, and of her peojile at 
home, claim that she is not altogether unworthy of admiration. 
Our mountains, cataracts, and lakes, can not be surveyed with- 
out lifting the soul on high. Our metropolis and our inland 
cities, our canals and railroads, our colleges and schools, and our 
twelve thousand libraries, evince emulation and a desire to pro- 
mote the welfare of our country, the progress of civilization, and 
the happiness of mankind. While we acknowledge that it was 
your Warren that offered up his life at Charlestown, your 
Adams and your Hancock who were the proscribed leaders in 
the Revolution, and your Franklin whose wisdom swayed its 
councils, we can not forget that Ticonderoga and Saratoga are 
M'ithin our borders — that it was a son of New York that fell 
in scaling the heights of Abraham — that another shaped every 
pillar of the Constitution and twined the evergreen around its 
capital — that our Fulton sent forth the mjghty mechanical 
agent that is revolutionizing the world — and that but for our 
Clinton, his lofty genius and undaunted perseverance, the 
events of this day and all its joyous anticipations had slept 
together in the womb of futurity. 

The grandeur of this occasion oppresses me. It is not, as 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 199 

some have supposed, the first time that states have met. On 
many occasions, in all ages, states, nations, and empires, have 
come together. But the trumpet heralded their approach ; they 
met in the shock of war : one or the other sunk to rise no more, 
and desolation marked, for the warning of mankind, the scene 
of the fearful encounter. And if sometimes Chivalry asked an 
armistice, it was but to light up with evanescent smiles the stern 
visage of war. How different is this scene ! Here are no con- 
tending hosts, no destructive engines, nor the terrors nor even 
the pomp of war. Not a helmet, sword, or plume, is seen in all 
this vast assemblage. Nor is this a hollow truce between con- 
tending states. We are not met upon a cloth of gold, and under 
a silken canopy, to practise deceitful courtesies ; nor in an am- 
phitheatre, with jousts and tournaments, to make trial of our 
skill in arms preparatory to a fatal conflict. We have come 
here enlightened and fraternal states, without pageantry, or 
even insignia of power, to renew pledges of fidelity, and to culti- 
vate affection and all the arts of peace. Well may our sister- 
states look upon the scene Avith favor, and the nations of the 
earth draw from it good auguries of universal and perpetual 
peace. 



200 SELECTIONS. 



EDUCATION. 



€ri)c prober Hansc of ^3ojpulav SOucatiou, 

Let us remember for ourselves, and inculcate upon tlie peo- 
ple, that our progress thus far has but led us to the vestibule of 
knowledge. When we see the people content in the belief that 
they know all that is known or is desirable to be known, let us 
instruct them that there is a science that will reveal to them the 
hidden and perpetual fires in which are continually carried on 
the formation and modification of the rocks which compose this 
apparently solid globe, and from whose elaborate changes is de- 
rived the sustenance of all that variety of vegetable life with 
which it is clothed : that another will disclose to them the ele- 
ments and properties of those metals which men combine or 
shape with varied art into the thousand implements and machines 
by the use of which the forest-world has been converted into a 
family of kindred nations ; that another solicits their attention, 
while it will bring in review before them, so that they can ex- 
amine, with greater care and instruction than did their great pro- 
genitor in the primitive garden, all the races of animated beings, 
and learn their organization, uses, and history; that another 
will classify and submit to their delighted examination the en- 
tire vegetable kingdom, making them familiar with their virtues 
as well as the forms of every species, from the cedar of Lebanon 
to the humble flower that is crushed under their feet; that 
another will decompose and submit to their examination the wa- 
ter which fertilizes the earth, and the invisible air they breathe ; 
will develop the sources and laws of that heat which seems to 
kindle all life into existence, and that terrific lightning which 



EDUCATION. :201 

seems tlie especial messenger of Divine wrath to extinguisli it. 
Let us teach that the workl of matter in which we Hve, in all 
its vast variety of form, is influential in the production, support, 
and happiness, of our own life, and that it is passing strange, that 
with minds endowed with a capacity to study that influence and 
measurably direct it, we yield uninquiringly to its action, as if 
it were controlled by capricious accident or blind destiny. Shall 
we not excite some interest, when we appeal to the people to 
learn that science which teaches the mechanism of our own 
wonderfully and fearfully fashioned frames, and that other 
science which teaches the vastly more complicated and delicate 
structure of our immortal minds ? Who would not follow with 
delight that science which elevates our thoughts to the heavens 
and teaches us the magnitude, forms, distances, revolutions, and 
laws of the globes that fill the concave space above us 1 And 
who, with thoughts thus gradually conducted through the range 
of the material universe, would not receive with humility, yet 
with delight, the teachings of that spirit of divine truth which 
exalts us to the study of the character and attributes of that clo- 
rious and beneficent Being, whose single volition called it all 
into existence ? Let us teach the people all this, and let us 
show them that, while we sit contentedly in comparative igno- 
rance, the arts are waiting to instruct us how to reduce the 
weary labors of life ; philosophy, how to avoid its errors and 
misfortunes ; and eloquence, poetry, and music, how to cheer its 
way and refine our aftections ; and that Religion is most eflicient 
when she combines and profits by all these instructions, to con- 
duct us to happiness in a future state. Above all, let us incul- 
cate that the great and beneficent Being who created us and 
this material universe, has established between each of us, and 
every part of it cognisable by our minds, relations more or less 
intimate ; that he has impressed not more on the globes that roll 
through the infinitude of space than on the pebble that lies be- 
neath our feet — not more on the immovable continent than on 
the rolling sea — not more on the wind and lightning than on the 
ethereal mind of man ; and not more on the human soul than on 
the dimly-hghted instinct of the glow-worm, or of the insect vis- 
ible only by microscopic aid — "laws that determine their or- 
ganization, their duration, time, place, circumstance, and action ; 

9* 



202 SELECTIONS. 

til at for our security, improvement, and happiness, he has sub- 
jected these laws to our keen investigation and perpetual dis- 
covery ; and that, vast as is the range of that discovery, so vast 
and more extended than we can describe, or can yet be conceiv- 
ed, is knowledge ; and that to attain all this knowledge — is 
'EdiicationV'— Address at Westfield, N. Y., 1837. 

i^opiilav SOucatiou a Scbcllcr* 

The aristocracy with which the world has been scourged was 
never one that was produced by science and learning. That 
education increases i\\Q power of those who enjoy its advantages 
is true ; and in this best sense is education aristocratic. In this 
sense, science and learning always will create an aristocracy in 
every country where they are cherished. Not an aristocracy 
of birth, for it is education that has exploded among us the prej- 
udice in favor of birth. To it Ave owe our exemption from the 
error prevalent all over the rest of the world, that no man is so 
fit, or so well entitled, to be a king as he who is the son of a 
king ; none so brave as he whose father was a warrior ; none so 
well entitled to the enjoyment of wealth as he whose ancestors 
were rich. Nor is the aristocracy produced by education that of 
wealth ; for knowledge pays no respect to mere wealth : it hum- 
bles all pretensions except those of virtue and intellect. But 
the aristocracy produced by education is the increased power 
and influence of the most enlightened, and therefore the most 
useful, members of society. However repugnant we may be to 
admit the truth, and however glaring may be the exceptions to 
it, it is nevertheless a sound general principle that knowledge is 
power. Whatever there is in our lot that distinguishes us from 
the disfranchised peasantry of continental Europe, or the tur- 
baned followers of the prophet, or the mutually-warring Africans 
in their native deserts, or their abject offspring here, or the ab- 
origines of our forests, all is knowledge obtained by education ; 
and, compared with all those classes of our common race, we are 
aristocratic. We exercise greater power, because we are wiser, 
and therefore better, than they. In every stage of society this 
tendency of education has been observed. He who first learned 
the malleable property of iron, and first shaped the axe and the 



^ EDUCATION. 203 

ploughshare, became an aristocrat. He who first attenuated and 
wove the fleece, he who first smoothed and rendered phable the 
skins of beasts, he who first erected the rude huts for his tribe 
— all these, all classes of mechanics, have in their day been, and 
all who exercise their callings will be, aristocrats. They all ex- 
ercise an influence, great in proportion to their knowledge. It 
is inevitable, because it is the wisdom of Providence that the 
world shall be governed by ascendant minds. Our own obser- 
vation shows us daily that knowledge gives the capacity for use- 
fulness ; and he who is, or is esteemed, useful, is by consent in- 
vested with power. In agriculture, he who adds science to labor 
is an aristocrat, compared with the drudge who performs an 
allotted task. He who in the mechanic arts adds skill to patient 
industry, rises instantly above the uninstructed artisan ; and he 
who to industry and skill adds taste, is far above the competi- 
tion of the dull and plodding workman. If, at this day, wealth 
sometimes usurps the place of intellect and appropriates its hon- 
ors, it is only because public sentiment is perverted, and requires 
to be corrected by a higher standard of education. But, although 
education increases the power and influence of its votaries, it 
has no tendency like other means of power to confine its advan- 
tages to a small number : on the contrary, it is expansive and 
thus tends to produce equality, not by levelling all to the condi- 
tion of the base, but by elevating all to the association of the 
wise and good. If, then, we would advance popular education, 
if we would secure the success of our common schools, and ex- 
tend their advantages to the whole people, we must remember 
that education is a catholic cause, and must banish all prejudices 
that retard improvement in any direction. — Address at West- 
Jield, N. Y., 1837. 

8ri)e Same. 

Our institutions, excellent as they are, have hitherto produced 
but a small portion of the beneficent results they are calculated 
to confer upon the people. The chief of those benefits is egual- 
itij. We do indeed enjoy equahty of civil rights ; but we have 
not yet attained, we have only approximated toward, what is 
even more important — equality of social condition. 



204 SELECTIONS. 

From the beginning of time, aristocracy has existed, and so- 
ciety has been divided into classes — the rich and the poor — 
the strong and the dependent — the learned and the unlearned; 
and from this inequality of social condition have resulted the 
ignorance, the crime, and the sufferings of the people. Let it 
expite no wonder when I say that thla inequality exists among 
us, and that aristocracy has a home even in the land of freedom. 
It does not, indeed, deprive us of our civil rights, but it prevents 
the diffusion of prosperity and happiness. We should be degen- 
erate descendants of our heroic forefathers did we not assail this 
aristocracy, remove the barriers between the rich and the poor, 
break the control of the few over the many, extend the largest 
liberty to the greatest number, and strengthen in every way the 
democratic principles of our constitution. 

This is the work in Avhich you are engaged. Sunday schools 
and common schools are the great levelling institutions of the 
age. What is the secret of aristocracy 1 It is, that knowledge 
is power. Knowledge, the world over, has been possessed by 
the few, and ignorance has been the lot of the many. The mer- 
chant — what is it that gives him wealth? The lawyer — what 
is it that gives him political power? The clergy — what is it 
that gives them influence so benign for good purposes, so effec- 
tive for mischievous ends ? Knowledge. What makes t/iis 
man a common laborer, and the ofJier a usurer — tJiis man a 
slave, and the other a tyrant ? Knowledge. Knowledge can 
never be taken from those by whom it has once been attained ; 
and hence the power which it confers upon the few can not be 
broken while the many are uneducated. Strip its possessors of 
all their wealth, and power, and honors, and knowledge still re- 
mains the same mighty agent to restore again the inequality you 
have removed. But there is a more effectual way to banish 
aristocracy from among us. It is by extending the advantages 
of knowledge to the many — to all the citizens of the state. 
Just so far and so fast as education is extended, democracy is 
ascendant. 

I wish you, my fellow-citizens, God speed in your benevolent 
and patriotic labors. Seldom does it hajDpen to any citizen to 
render to his country any service more lasting or more effectual 
than that which is accomplished by the teachers of such schools 



EDUCATION. -205 

as these. While they are at Avork throughout the country, we 
need mdulge do fears of extending too widely the privilege of 
suffrage and the right of citizenship. — Address at Sunday-School 
Celebration, July 4, 1839. 

§ft\\\v\z jEOucatt'on. 

There remains to be noticed an error scarcely less extensive, 
or less pernicious, than any I have mentioned. It is that which 
limits to a comparatively lower standard the education of the 
female sex. We may justly boast in this country a higher and 
more deferential regard, a more chivalrous devotion, to the sex 
than is exhibited by any other nation. I myself have compared 
our sentiments and customs, in this respect, with those of western 
Europe. I have seen, indeed, in some other countries, the more 
ardent and impassioned devotion that marks the clime where 
licentiousness assumes the name of love, but is not imbued with 
any of its sentiment, nor elevated by any of its purity. I have 
seen, under colder skies, more humble homage paid to individ- 
uals, because they were distinguished by learning, aotomplish- 
ments, birth, wealth, or beauty. But it is in this land only that 
respect and tenderness are yielded to women because they are 
women. If the vehement imagination of other countries is here 
subdued, and passion is modified, the romance and poetry of 
other lands are here converted into a real and living sentiment. 
There is no other country where the humblest female receives, 
from the highest in rank of the other sex, the surrender of the 
chief place in public assemblies, not more than in the social circle 
— in accidental meetings by the way, not less than in the cere- 
monials of fashionable life. In Italy, often described as the 
land where beauty wields a despotic sway, I have seen women 
rolling huge stones from the mountnin-roads.* In France, the 
land of gallantry and politeness, I have seen them performing 
the labor of porters : in refined England, the task of scavengers 
of the streets. And in all those countries, I have seen them 
employed in field labor, with countenances hardened by exposure 
to all vicissitudes of weather, and hands familiar with the spade 
and the plough. It reflects great honor iipon our national char- 
acter that such degradation of the sex is never exhibited here. 



206 SELECTIONS. 

But there yet remains a duty toward women to be learned by us 
all ; and that is, to make their education equal always to that 
of the other sex. He, it seems to me, is a dull observer, who 
is not convinced that they are equally qualified with the other 
sex, for the stud}^ of the magnificent creation around us, and 
equally entitled to the happiness to be derived from its pursuits : 
and still more blind is he, who has not learned that it was the 
intention of the Creator to commit to them a higher and greater 
portion of responsibility in the education of the youth of both 
sexes. They are the natural guardians of the young. Their 
abstraction from the engrossing cares of life, affords them leisure 
both to acquire and communicate knowledge. From them the 
young more willingly receive it, because the severity of disci- 
pline is relieved with greater tenderness and affection while their 
quicker apprehension, enduring patience, expansive benevolence, 
higher purity, more delicate taste and elevated moral feeling, 
qualify them for excellence in all departments of learning, except 
perhaps the exact sciences. If this be true, how many a repul- 
sive, bigoted, and indolent professor will, in the general improve- 
ment of education, be compelled to resign his claim to modest, 
assiduous, and affectionate woman ? And how many conceited 
pretenders who now wield the rod in om- common schools, with- 
out the knowledge of human nature requisite for its discreet ex- 
ercise — too indolent to improve, and too proud to discharge 
their responsible duties, will be driven to seek subsistence else- 
where ? It is not, as is generally supposed, the female sex 
alone who suffer by this exclusion from their proper sphere. 
Whatever is lost to the other sex, of the advantages of their 
nurture and cultivation, is an additional loss to our common race. 
—Address at Wesffield, N. Y., 1837. 

Kmprobement of ^epulav fatrucation must hcQin not tottf) t|)e e5obcru== 
mcnt 6iit iDitlj tf)e 3^tti^\z. 

Fellov^-citizens, it is less the object of this discourse to give 
practical suggestions for the reform of education, than it#s to 
excite an interest in its behalf; yet I will add, in order that it 
may not appear altogether without practical tendency, that if 
we would communicate an effective impulse to the cause, we are 



EDUCATION. 207 

not to wait the action of the government. Our government acts 
only in obedience to popular influence, and in pursuance of pnp- 
ular direction. It is not in its principles to anticipate the one, or 
resist the other. Like all other reforms, this must be effected 
by a combination of individual efforts, to stimulate and enlighten 
the public mind. In the present case public feeling is not to be 
reached from a distant point. A more practicable course is 
offered. We must begin at home, with the schools around us, 
and among that portion of the community in which we reside. 
Let us revive the system of visitation and examination of our 
academies and schools. This all-important feature in every plan 
of public instruction has, during a long period, fallen into desue- 
tude. The officers invested with the responsibility of discharg- 
ing the duty, unfortunately, are selected as the favorites of some 
political party, and do not even make a nominal visitation of the 
institutions subject to their examination. The right of visitation, 
however, is not divested from parents and patrons of these 
schools. If, in addition to the examinations heretofore practised, 
there could be adopted some plan in pursuance of which, institu- 
tions of equal rank situated in the same vicinity could be brought 
into comparative examination, competition would at once be pro- 
duced between instructors, and emulation among pupils ; increased 
interest would be excited on the part of parents, and a lively 
concern in the whole community. 

I appeal to all patriots and Christians to consider the subject 
upon which I have presented these hasty remarks, and adopt 
such measures as shall be found expedient to discharge the 
responsibility they owe to their children, to the church of our 
Savior, to our common country, and to the great family of man- 
kind.— ^r/^rm at Westfield, N. Y., 1837. 

HUucation |)refeval)le to Conquest. 

The distinguished senator from Kentucky [My. Clay], sev- 
eral years since, by his great influence in the councils of the 
nation, secured the distribution among the several states of this 
Union of a portion of the surplus revenues of this government. 
I was at a distance, an humble follower and approver of tliat 
policy. The result of it in other states I do not know. But 



208 SELECTIONS. 

you, Mr. President [Mr. Fillmore], can testify witli me the 
result, the beneficent result, in the state of New York, from 
which we come. The share which was allotted to us was six 
millions of dollars ; the amount we received was four millions, 
five hundred thousand dollars. Every dollar of that four and a 
half millions, sir, more than ten years ago, went to the founda- 
tion of public schools, academies, seminaries, and other higher 
institutions of learning, and of libraries for the common people. 
And, sir, I will now state to the senate — and I am proud that, 
in behalf of the state of New York, I am here this day to state 
it to the praise and honor of the distinguished senator from Ken- 
tucky — the condition of the state of New York, of the people, 
bond and free — I might say, if we had any of the former class 
— native and foreigner, to which they have been brought by this 
act of justice — I will not call it benevolence. Sir, the state of 
New York, having a population of tliree millions of people, has 
not in it one child of citizen or foreigner that is not educated, 
from the age of five years to the age of twenty years, at the 
public cost and expense. Again, sir : at the distance of every 
mile and a half on every main road, railroad, canal, and cross- 
road — separated by only a mile and a half — is the schoolhouse 
of New England. The schoolmaster is at home everywhere in 
New YoiJi, and all the time ; and New York has made a trial 
of the blessed example of Massachusetts and Connecticut. This 
is Avhat has been done in my day, since my and your experience 
began ; and more than that : in every one of these schoolhouses 
is a public library of two hundred and fifty volumes, containing 
all that is interesting in ancient or modern history or science, 
literature, geography, and every other branch of human knowl- 
edge, open and accessible to every citizen — man, woman, and 
child — in the state of New York, Yes, sir, these four millions 
and a half have supplied us with libraries which, taken collec- 
tively, contain more than one million of volumes. 

More than that, sir : there has not been left in the state of 
New York the blind person who has not been taught to read 
his bible — there has not been left in the state the deaf and 
dumb, the mute, who has not been brought to be able to give 
expression of his gratitude and praise to God, and to the state 
which has brought him from ignorance and degradation below 



EDUCATION. 209 

his race. More than that, sir ; we have not neglected that otlier 
unfortunate class. I have been asked, why not consider the 
free negroes ? S'lv, the free negroes have been considered. 
This fund has been appropriated to their advancement, also ; to 
raise their condition ; to cultivate them to exercise the rights of 
self-government, and to carry on the great Avork of the emanci- 
pation of ^their race wherever they are found in bondage. Yes, 
sir, five thousand children of the African race are educated out 
of this great fund of national benevolence. What becomes of 
the reproach, then, that this is a charity ? What would have 
been the disposition of this fund if it had been left here, sir 1 
It would have been expended as the revenues of this country, 
always too large^too liberal, have been expended, in improvi- 
dence. It is therefore that I have always claimed that it should 
be distributed among the states, that they might apply it to 
works of advancement — progress — humanity. 

Now, sir, there has been no diminution of the fund all this 
time. While we have been enjoying this four and a half mil- 
lions, there is not one dollar of it gone. Every dollar is there 
yet. It is still in the treasury of the state of New York ; 
and all that has been done has been only by the 2ise of the 
money. Tell me, sir, is it not wiser to make such a distribution 
of this fund than it would be to employ it in encouraging prodi- 
gality in the government ; than to encourage that lust of con- 
quest in which the Mexican Avar had its origin, by Avhich were 
brought into this Union seven hundred and sixty-three millions 
of acres of public domain, to be added to the one thousand mil- 
lions we had before ? What has it Avrought ? It has proved, 
in the words of an honorable senator here, but a Pandora's box 
of evils ; and we are entertained here, day after day, with the 
intelligence that the Union must be dissolved — that it is really 
now dissolved — even to-day. We employed the revenues of 
the public domains in extending our dominions, that were too 
large — unnecessarily large — already. Sir, I want no more 
Mexican wars, no more lust of conquest, no more of seizing the 
unripened fruit, which, if left alone, would of itself fall into our 
hands. — Speech in U. S. Senate, Jan. 30, 1850. 



210 SELECTIONS. 



Efje 33tblc t|)e 33cisis of 3ac|)ubl[can ^Institutions. 

What is tliat which has enabled the Scriptures of the Jews 
to supplant all other writings of antiquity, and to maintain an 
authority and veneration unapproachable by even modern learn- 
ing 1 It is the fact that they describe the Creator and man 
more accurately according to the standard of enlightened reason, 
and define the relations between them more justly according to 
the suggestions of the human heart. I am asked, Avhat is my 
opinion of the influence of the Holy Scriptures on human soci- 
ety 1 I answer, that I do not believe human society, including^ 
not merely a few persons in any state, but whole masses of men, 
ever has attained, or ever can attain, a high state of intelli- 
gence, virtue, security, liberty, or happiness, without them ; and 
that the whole hope of human progress is suspended on the 
ever-growing influence of the Bible 

The constitution of the United States established a republican 
form of government for the free people of this Union ; and it 
has ordained that once in every ten years the number of souls 
under the protection of that constitution, and in the enjoyment 
of the freedom which it secures, shall be ascertained, in order 
that their political rights shall be secured, and that each portion 
of the country shall enjoy its just and proper proportion of 
power. I knoAv not how long a republican form of government 
can flourish among a people who have not the Bible : the experi- 
ment has never been tried.; but this I do know, that the exist- 
ing government of this country never could have had an exist- 
ence but for the Bible. And further : I do in my conscience 
believe, that if at every decade of years a copy of the Bible 
shall be found in every family of the land, its repubHcan institu- 
tions will be perpetual. — Address before Am. Bib. Society/, 1839. 

E\)t <Swstem of ^^iiUic Scfjools Befcctibe.— ^mmUmcnt '^toposett. 

The colleges, academies, and common schools, constitute our 
system of public instruction. The pervading intelligence, the 
diminution of crime, the augmented comforts and enjoyments of 
society and its progressive refinement, public order, and the su- 



.EDUCATION. 211 

premacy of tlie laws, testify that the system has hecn l)y no 
means imsuccessful. 

It must nevertheless be admitted, that its usefulness is much 
less than the state rightfully demands, both as a return for her 
munificence and a guaranty of her institutions. Some of oiTr col- 
leges and academies languish in the midst of a community 
abounding in genius and talents impatient of the ignorance 
which debases and the prejudices which enslave. The common 
school system, but partially successful in agricultural districts, is 
represented as altogether without adaptation to cities and popu- 
lous villages. The standard of education ought to be elevated, 
not merely to an equality with that attained in other states, but 
to that height which may be reached by cultivating the intel- 
lectual powers with the aid of modern improvements during the 
entire period when the faculties are quick and active, the curi- 
osity insatiable, the temper practicable, and the love of truth 
supreme. The ability to read and write, with the rudiments of 
arithmetic, generally constitute the learning acquired in com- 
mon schools. To these our academies and colleges add super- 
ficial instruction in the dead languages without the philosophy 
of our own ; sciei^tific facts without their causes ; definitions 
without practical application ; the rules of rhetoric without its 
spirit; and history divested of its moral instructions. It is 
enough to show the defectiveness of our entire system that its 
pursuits are irksome to all except the few endowed with peculiar 
genius and fervor to become the guides of the human mind, and 
that it fails to inspire either a love of science or a passion for 
literature. Science is nothing else than a disclosure of the 
bounties the Creator has bestowed to promote the happiness of 
man, and a discovery of the laws by which mind and matter are 
controlled for that benignant end. Literature has no other ob- 
ject than to relieve our cares and increase our virtues. That 
the pursuits of either should require monastic seclusion, or be en- 
forced by pains and penalties upon reluctant minds, is inconsist- 
ent with the generous purposes of both. Society can not be 
justly censured for indifi'erence to education, when those who 
enjoy its precious advantages manifest so httle of the enthusi- 
asm it ought to inspire. All the associations of the youthful 
mind in the acquisition of knowledge must be cheerful ; its 



212 SELECTIONS. • 

truths slioiild be presented in tlieir native beauty and in tlieir 
natural order; the laws it reveals should be illustrated always 
by their benevolent adaptation to the happiness of mankind ; 
and the utility and beauty of what is already known should in- 
cite to the endless investigation of what remains concealed. If 
education could be conducted upon principles like these, the at- 
tainments of our collegiate instruction might become an ordi- 
nary measure of acquirement in our common schools ; and our 
academies and colleges would be continually enjoying new rev- 
elations of philosophy and attaining higher perfection in the arts 
which alleviate the cares of human life. 

If these reflections seem extravagant, and the results they 
contemplate unattainable, it need only be answered that the 
improvability of our race is without limit, and all that is pro- 
posed is less wonderful than what has already been accom- 
plished. I do not hesitate to invite efforts to establish the stand- 
ard I have described. Postponed, omitted, and forgotten, as it 
too often is amid the excitement of other subjects and the pres- 
sure of other duties, education is, nevertheless, the chief of our 
responsibilities. The consequences of the most partial improve- 
ment in our system of education will be wider and more endu- 
ring than the effects of any change of public policy, the benefit 
of any new principle of jurisprudence, or the results of any en- 
terprise of physical improvement we can accomplish. These 
consequences will extend through the entire development of the 
human mind, and be consummated only with its destiny. — An- 
nual Message, 1839. 

SStrucation of tfje Cfjiltrvcn of Syilcs. 

The children of foreigners, found in great numbers in our pop- 
ulous cities and towns, and in the vicinity of our public works, 
are too often deprived of the advantages of our system of public 
education, in consequence of prejudices arising from difference 
of language or religion. It ought never to be forgotten that the 
public welfare is as deeply concerned in their education as in 
that of our own children. I do not hesitate therefore to recom- 
mend the establishment of schools in which they may be in- 
structed by teachers speaking the same language with lliem- 



EDUCATION. 213 

selves, and professing the same fiiitli. There wouhl be no 
mequality in such a measure, since it liappcns from tlic force of 
circumstances, if not from clioice, that the responsibiHties of edu- 
cation are in most instances confided by us to native citizens, and 
occasions seklom offer for a trial of our magnanimity by commit- 
ting that trust to persons differing from ourselves in language 
or religion. Since we have opened our country and all its full- 
ness to the oppressed of every nation, we should evince wisdom 
equal to such generosity by qualifying their children for the 
high responsibilities of citizenship. — Annual Message, 1840. 

Srf)e Same. 

When the census of 1850 shall be taken, I trust it will show 
that within the borders of the state of New York there is no 
child of sufficient years who is unable to read and write. I am 
sure it will then be acknowledged that when, ten years before, 
there Avere thirty thousand children growing up in ignorance 
and vice, a suggestion to seek them wherever found, and win 
them to the ways of knowledge and virtue by persuasion, 
sympathy, and kindness, was prompted by a sincere desire for 
the common good. I have no pride of opinion concerning the 
manner in which the education of those whom I have brought to 
your notice shall be secured, although I might derive satisfaction 
from the reflection, that, amid abundant misrepresentations of 
the method suggested, no one has contended that it would be in- 
effectual, nor has any other plan been proposed. I observe, on 
the contrary, with deep regret, that the evil remains as before ; 
and the question recurs, not merely how or by whom shall in- 
struction be given, but whether it shall be given at all or shall 
be altogether withheld. Others may be content with a system 
that erects free schools and offers gratuitous instruction ; but I 
trust I shall be allowed to entertain the opinions that no sys- 
tem is perfect that does not accomplish what it proposes ; that 
our system is therefore deficient in comprehensiveness in the 
exact proportion of the children that it leaves uneducated ; that 
knowledge, however acquired, is better than ignorance ; and 
that neither error, accident, nor prejudice, ought to be permitted 
to deprive the state of the education of her citizens. Cherishing 



214 SELECTIONS. 

such opinions, I could not enjoy the consciousness of having per- 
formed my duty, if any effort had been omitted which was cal- 
culated to bring within the schools all who are destined to exer- 
cise the rights of citizenship ; nor shall I feel that the system is 
perfect or liberty safe until that object be accomplished. Not 
personally concerned about such misapprehensions as have arisen, 
but desirous to remove every obstacle to the accomplishment 
of so importjant an object, I very freely declare that I seek the 
education of those whom I have brought before you, not to per- 
petuate any prejudices or distinctions which deprive them of 
instruction, but in disregard of all such distinctions and prejudi- 
ces. I solicit their education less from sympathy, than because 
the welfare of the state demands it, and can not dispense with 
it. As native citizens, they are born to the right of suffrage. I 
ask that they may at least be taught to read and write ; and in 
asking this, I require no more for them than I have diligently 
endeavored to secure to the inmates of our penitentiaries, who 
have forfeited that inestimable franchise by crime, and also to 
an unfortunate race, which, having been plunged by us into deg- 
radation and ignorance, has-been excluded from the franchise by 
an arbitrary property qualification incongruous with all our in- 
stitutions. I have not recommended nor do I seek the educa- 
tion of any class in foreign languages or in particular creeds or 
faiths ; but fully believing with the author of the Declaration of 
Independence, that even error may be safely tolerated where 
reason is left free to combat it, and therefore indulging no appre- 
hensions from the influence of any language or creed among an 
enlightened people, I desire the education of the entire rising 
generation in all the elements of knowledge we possess, and in 
that tongue which is the universal language of our countrymen. 
To me the most interesting of all our republican institutions is 
the common school. I seek not to disturb in any manner its 
peaceful and assiduous exercises, and least of all with conten- 
tions about faith or forms. I desire the education of all tlie 
children in the commonwealth in morality and virtue, leaving 
matters of conscience where, according to the principles of civil 
and religious liberty established by our constitution and laws, 
they rightfully belong. — Annual Message, 1841. 



EDUCATION. ' 215 



S:t)c Same. 



It was among my earliest duties to bring to the notice of the 
legislature the neglected condition of many thousand children, in- 
cluding a very large proportion of those of immigrant parentage, 
in our great commercial city ; a misfortune then supposed to re- 
sult from groundless prejudices and omissions of parental duty. 
Especially desirous at the same time not to disturb in any man- 
ner the public schools, which seemed to be efficiently conducted, 
although so many for whom they were established, were unwil- 
ling to receive their instructions, I suggested, as I thought in a 
spirit not inharmonious with our civil and religious institutions, that 
if necessary it might be expedient to bring those so excluded from 
such privileges into schools rendered especially attractive by the 
sympathies of those to whom the task of instruction should be 
confided. It has since been discovered that the magnitude of 
the evil was not fully known, and that its causes were very 
imperfectly understood. It will be shown you in the proper re- 
port, that twenty thousand children in the city of New York, of 
suitable age, are not at all instructed in any of the public 
schools, while the whole number in all the residue of the state 
not taught in common schools, does not exceed nine thousand. 
What had been regarded as individual, occasional, and accidental 
prejudices have proved to be opinions pervading a large mass, 
including at least one religious communion equally with all oth- 
ers entitled to civil tolerance — opinions cherished through a 
period of sixteen years, and ripened into a permanent, conscien- 
tious distrust of the impartiality of the education given in the 
public schools. This distrust has been rendered still deeper and 
more alienating by a subversion of precious civil rights of those 
whose consciences are thus offended. 

Happily in this as in other instances, the evil is discovered to 
have had its origin no deeper than in a departure from the 
equality of general laws. In our general system of common 
schools, trustees, chosen by tax-paying citizens, tevy taxes, build 
schoolhouses, employ and pay teachers, and govern schools 
which are subject to visitation by similarly-elected inspectors, 
who certify the qualifications of teachers ; and all schools thus 
constituted participate in just proportion in the public moneys, 



216 SELECTIONS. 

which are conveyed to them by commissioners also elected by 
the people. Such schools are found distributed in average 
spaces of two and a half square miles throughout the inhabited 
portions of the state, and yet neither popular discontent, nor polit- 
ical strife, nor sectarian discord, has ever disturbed their peaceful 
instructions or impaired their eminent usefulness. In the public 
school system of the city of New York, one hundred persons are 
trustees and inspectors, and, by continued consent of the common 
council, are the dispensers of an annual average sum of thirty- 
five thousand dollars received from the common-school fund of 
the state, and also of a sum equal to ninety-five thousand dollars 
derived from an indiscriminating tax upon the real and per- 
sonal estates of the city. They build schoolhouses chiefly with 
public funds, and appoint and remove teachers, fix their com- 
pensation, and prescribe the moral, intellectual, and religious 
instruction which one eighth of the rising generation of the state 
shall be required to receive. Their powers, more effective and 
far-reaching than are exercised by the municipality of the city, 
are not derived from the community whose children are educa- 
ted and whose property is taxed, nor even from the state, which 
is so great an almoner, and whose welfare is so deeply concerned, 
but from an incorporated and perpetual, association, which grants, 
upon pecuniary subscription, the privileges even of life member- 
ship, and yet holds in fee simple the public school edifices, valued 
at eight hundred thousand dollars. Lest there might be too much 
responsibility even to the association, that body can elect only one 
half the trustees, and those thus selected appoint their fifty associ- 
ates. The philanthropy and patriotism of the present managers 
of the public schools, and their efficiency in imparting instruc- 
tion, are cheerfully and gratefully admitted. Nor is it necessary 
to maintain that agents thus selected will become unfaithful, or 
that a system that so jealously excludes popular interference 
must necessarily be unequal in its operation. It is only in- 
sisted that the institution, after a fair and sufficient trial, has 
failed to gain that broad confidence reposed in the general sys- 
tem of the state, and indispensable to every scheme of universal 
education. No plan for that purpose can be defended except on 
the ground that public instruction is one of the responsibilities 
of the government. It is therefore a manifest legislative duty 



EDUCATION. 217 

to correct errors and defects in whatever system is established. 
In the present case the faiUu'e amounts virtually to an exclusion 
of all the children thus "withheld. I can not overcome mv re- 
gret that every suggestion of amendment encounters so much 
opposition from those who defend the public school system of 
the metropolis, as to show, that in their judgment it can admit 
of no modification, neither from tenderness to the consciences, 
nor from regard to the civil rights of those aggrieved, nor even 
for the reclamation of those for whose culture the state has so 
munificently provided ; as if society most conform itself to the 
public schools instead of the public schools adapting themselves 
to the exigencies of society. The late eminent superintendent, 
after exposing the greatness of this public misfortune, and tracing 
it to the discrepancy between the local and general systems, 
suggested a remedy which, although it is not urged to the 
exclusion of any other, seems to deserve dispassionate consid- 
eration. 

I submit, therefore, with entire willingness to approve what- 
ever adequate remedy you may propose, the expediency of re- 
storing to the people of the city of New York — what I am sure 
the people of no other part of the state would upon any consid- 
eration relinquish — the education of their children. 

For this purpose, it is only necessary to vest the control of 
the common schools in a board to be composed of commissioners 
elected by the people ; which board shall apportion the school 
moneys among all the schools, including those now existing, 
which shall be organized and conducted in conformity to its gen- 
eral regulations and the laws of the state, in the proportion of 
the number of pupils instructed. It is not left doubtful that the 
restoration to the common schools of the city of this simple and 
equal feature of the common schools of the state, would remove 
every complaint, and bring into the seminaries the offspring of 
want and misfortune presented by a grand jury on a recent oc- 
casion as neglected children of both sexes who are found in 
hordes upon wharves and on corners of the streets, surrounded 
by evil associations, disturbing the public peace, committing 
petty depredations, and going from bad to worse, until their 
course terminates in high crimes and infamy. 

This proposition to gather the young from the streets and 

10 



218 SELECTIONS. 

Avharves into the nurseries which the state, solicitous for her se- 
curity against ignorance, has prepared for them, has sometimes 
been treated as a device to appropriate the school fund to the 
endowment of seminaries for teaching languages and faiths, thus 
to perpetuate the prejudices it seeks to remove ; sometimes as a 
scheme for dividing that precious fund among a hundred jarring 
sects, and thus increasing the religious animosities it strives to 
heal ; and sometimes as a plan to ^subvert the prevailing reli- 
gion and introduce one repugnant to the consciences of our fel- 
low-citizens ; while, in truth, it simply proposes by enlightening 
equally the minds of all, to enable them to detect error wherever 
it may exist, and to reduce uncongenial masses into one in- 
telligent, virtuous, harmonious, and happy people. Being now 
relieved from all such misconceptions, it presents the questions 
whether it is wiser and more humane to educate the ofl^pring of 
the poor than to leave them to grow up in ignorance and vice ; 
whether juvenile vice is more easily eradicated by the court of ses- 
sions than by common schools ; whether parents have a right to be 
heard concerning the instraction and instructors of their children, 
and tax-payers in relation to the expenditure of public funds ; 
whether, in a republican government, it is necessary to interpose 
an independent corporation between the people and the school- 
master ; and whether it is wise and just to disfranchise an entire 
community of all control over public education, rather than 
suffer a part to be represented in proportion to its numbers and 
contributions. 

Since such considerations are now involved, what has hitherto 
been discussed as a question of benevolence and universal edu- 
cation, has become one of equal civil rights, religious tolerance, 
and liberty of conscience. We could bear with us in our re- 
tirement from public service no recollection more worthy of 
being cherished through life than that of having met such a 
question in the generous and confiding spirit of our institutions, 
and of having decided it upon the immutable principles on which 
they are based. — Annual Message, 1842. 



FREEDOM. 



The capitol is deserted ! The legislature have suspended 
tlieir labors ; the city is in mourning ; a sudden blow has fallen 
on the master-chord in the heart of this nation, and grief is dif- 
fusing itself throughout the Union. The voice of John Quincy 
Adams has died away on earth, and he has resumed converse 
with John Adams and Jefferson, with La Fayette and with 
Washington, in heaven. 

Death found the statesman where he wished to meet it — in 
the capitol ; in his place ; in the performance of his duty ; in 
defending the cause of peace and of freedom. He submitted 
to the inevitable blow as those who loved and honored him fore- 
told and desired that he would — saying only, " This is the last 
of earth — I am content." 

I will not suffer myself to speak all I feel on this sad occa- 
sion. While the American people have lost a father and a 
guide — while Humanity*lias lost her most eloquent, persevering, 
and indomitable advocate — I have lost a patron, a guide, a coun- 
sellor, and a friend — one whom I loved scarcely less than 
the dearest relations, and venerated above all that was mortal 
among men. 

I speak in behalf of my associates. Great as he was, illus- 
trious as his achievements were, he was one of us. He was a 
civilian, a lawyer, a jurist. His great mind was imbued with 
the science of our noble profession, and enriched with all conge- 
nial learning; and to these he added the ornaments of rhetoric 
•'^Remarks before the Court of Chancery, Albany, Feb. 25, 1848. 



220 SELECTIONS. 

and eloquence. Trained in constitutional law, in the school of 
its founders, Washington called him in precocious youth to the 
kindred field of diplomacy. That mission discharged, he re- 
turned to his profession, and devoted himself to it with assiduity 
until the people called him from the duty of expounding laws 
to the higher department of making laws. 

Rising through various and very responsihle departments of 
public service, he became chief magistrate of the republic. 
There he impressed on its history an enduring illustration of a 
wise, peaceful, and enlightened administration, devoted to the 
cultivation of peace, to its arts and its interests, and to extend- 
ing the sway of republican institutions over the continent, and 
yet in all things subordinate to the law and regulated by the 
law. 

When he had thus filled the measure of the world's expecta- 
tion and of his own generous ambition, he resumed his place in 
the national legislature, and devoted what remained of life to a 
long, arduous, and finally-successful vindication of the constitu- 
tional liberty of speech, and of the universal inalienable right 
of petition. Nor can we forget that, Avhile thus engaged, he set 
a noble example for us, by returning again to the field of his 
early labors, the unpaid, unrivalled advocate of the Amistad 
captives. Those unhappy fugitives, rescued by him from the 
oppression of two great nations, were restored to Africa, the first 
of the many millions of her people of whom she had been de- 
spoiled by the avarice of our superior race. Whatever difference 
of opinion there may be concerning the principles and policy of 
the deceased, all men will now agree that he won among Ameri- 
can statesmen, and eminently more than any other, the fame 
accorded to the most illustrious chevalier of France — the fame 
of a statesman — sans peur et sans reprovJIie. 

It is fit that the death of such a citizen should be marked 
with all the testimonials of public grief, in order that his life 
may have its just influence on mankind. It is fit that it should 
be honored in this tribunal, the fame of which is not unknown 
throughout the world, and the records of which Avill remain for 
ever. — Remarks before Court of Chancery, Alhany, Feb. 25, 1848. 

Note. — Another and more elaborate eulogy on Mr, Adams will be found 
in the third volume of Mr. Seward's complete Works. 



FREEDOM. 221 



i^utual liiflfjts anu Duties of Nations. 

Writers on law teach ns tliat states are free, inclepeiKlent, 
equal, moral persons, existing for the objects of happiness and 
usefulness, and possessing rights and subject to duties defined 
by the law of nature, which is a system of politics and morals 
founded in right reason ; that the only difference between poli- 
tics and morals is, that one regulates the operntions of govern- 
ment, while the other directs the conduct of individuals, and that 
the maxims of both are the same ; that two sovereign states 
may be subject to one prince, and yet be mutually independent ; 
that a nation becomes free by the act of its ruler when he 
exceeds the fundamental laws ; that when any power, whether 
domestic or foreign, attempts to deprive a state of independence 
or of liberty, it may lawfully take counsel of its courage, and 
prefer before the certainty of servitude the chances of destruc- 
tion ; that each nation is bound to do to every other in time of 
peace the most good, and in time of war the least hai-m possi- 
ble, consistently with its own real interests ; that while this is 
an imperfect obligation, of which no state can exact a perform- 
ance, any one has nevertheless a right to use peaceful means, 
and even force, if necessary, to repress a power that openly vio- 
lates the law of nations, and directly attacks their common wel- 
fare ; and that, although the interests of universal society require 
mutual intercourse between states, yet that intercourse can be 
conducted by those only who in their respective nations possess 
and exercise in fact adequate political powers 

It is time to protest. The new outworks of our svstem of 
politics in Europe have all been cnrried away. Republicnnism 
has now no abiding place there, except on the rock of San 
Marino and in the mountain-home of William Tell. France 
and Austria are said to be conspiring to expel it even tliere. 
In my inmost heart, I could almost bid them dare to try an 
experiment Avhich would arouse the nations of Europe to resist 
the commission of a crime so flagrant and so bold. 

I have heard frequently, hero and elsewhere, thnt we ran 
promote the cause of freedom and humanity onlj- by our exam- 
ple, and it is most true. But what should that example be but 



222 SELECTIONS. 

that of performing not one national duty only, but all national 
duties ; not those beginning and ending with ourselves only, but 
those also which Ave owe to other nations and to all mankind ? 
No dim eclipse will suffice to illuminate a benighted world. 

I have the common pride of every American in the aggran- 
dizement of my country. No effort of mine to promote it, by 
just and lawful means, ever was or ever will be withheld. Our 
flag, when it rises to the topmast or the turret of an enemy's 
ship or fortress, excites in me a pleasure as sincere as in any 
other man. And yet I have seen that flag on two occasions 
when it awakened even more intense gratification. One was 
when it entered the city of Cork, covering supplies for a chival- 
rous and generous but famishing people. The other was when 
it recently protected in his emigration an exile of whom conti- 
nental Europe Avas unworthy, and to whom she had denied a 
refuge. Sir, it raised no surprise and excited no regret in me, 
as it did in some, to see that exile and that flag alike sahited 
and honored by the people, and alike feared and hated by the 
kings of Europe. 

Let others employ themselves in devising neAv ligaments to 
bind these states together. They shall have my respect for 
their patriotism and their zeal. For myself, I am content with 
the old ones just as I find them. I believe that the Union is 
founded in physical, moral, and political necessities, which de- 
mand one gOA^ernment, and Avould endure no divided states ; 
that it is impregnable, therefore, equally to force or to faction ; 
that secession is a feverish dream, and disunion an unreal and 
passing chimera ; and that, for AA^eal or wo, for liberty or servi- 
tude, this great country is one and inseparable. I belieA-e, also, 
that it is righteousness, not greatness, that exalteth a nation, 
and that it is liberty, not repose, that renders national existence 
worth possessing. Let me, then, perform my humble part in 
the service of the republic, by cultivating the sense of justice 
and the loA^e of liberty Avhicti are the elements of its being, and 
by developing their saving influences, not only in our domestic 
conduct, but in our foreign conduct also, and in our social inter- 
course Avith all other states and nations. 

It has already come to this — that Avhenever in any country 
an advocate of freedom, by the changes of fortune, is driven 



FREEDOM. 223 

into exile, he hastens to seek an asylum here ; that whenever a 
hero falls in the cause of Freedom on any of her battle-fields, 
his eyes involuntarily turn toward us, and he commits that 
cause with a confiding trust to our sympathy and onv care. 
Never, sir, as we value the security of our own freedom, or the 
welfare and happiness of mankind, or the favor of Heaven, that 
has enabled us to protect both, let that exile be inhospitably 
repulsed. Never let the prayer of that dying hero fall on ears 
unused to hear, or spend itself upon hearts tliat refuse to be 
moved. — Speech in U. S. Senate, March 9, 1852. 

2E|)e 3^i£ilit of ^3etition. 

Every man who is a citizen of the United • States, and, ac- 
cording to my theory, every man who, although he may not be 
a citizen, yet is a subject of the government of the United States, 
has a right to petition the Congress of the United States upon 
any subject of national interest, or which can be legitimately the 
subject of legislation. Then, is there any well-grounded objec- 
tion to the fact that these memorialists* describe themselves as 
clergymen ? Certainly not ; because it is the right and tlie 
privilege of a citizen, if he can petition at all, to present his peti- 
tion in his own way. If he thinks there is anything in his 
character or position which entitles his opinions to higher con- 
sideration, or which leads to the behef that he understands the 
subject more thoroughly than others, it is his right to describe 
himself by the appellation which designates his profession, his 
character, or his office. It is only on this principle that the 
legislatures of the states make their voices known to Con- 
gress, by describing themselves as the legislatures of the states. 
They come here with their resolutions in the character of peti- 
tioners or remonstrants, under that provision of the constitution 
which 'guaranties the right of petition, and upon no other ground 
of constitutional right whatever. 

Is there any well-grounded objection to the language or 

tone of this memorial % I think not. While, on the other hand, 

it is such a memorial as a secular person like myself would not 

be apt to dictate or sign, because there is a soleuniity of tone, a 

*The New England Clergy. 



224 SELECTIONS. 

seriousness, and religious consideration which secular meii do not 
indulge or affect ; yet, on the other hand, it is professional, and 
natural on the part of the memorialists ; it is in the character of 
those who make it. It is said, indeed, that they assume to 
speak the will and judgment of the Creator and Judge of men 
and nations. I do not understand them as assuming to speak 
any such thing. I understand them as saying simply, in sub- 
stance, " We, citizens of the United States, subscribing ourselves 
as clergymen in the presence of Almighty God, and in his name, 
address the Congress of the United States." Sir, what is unu- 
sual or wrong in this 1 You do not commence your proceedings 
here on any day of your whole session without acknowledging 
and declaring that they are begun in the presence, and in 
the name, and with an invocation of the blessing of Almighty 

I have said, sir, that they come here declaring that they 
come in the presence of Almighty God. It is that universal 
and eternal presence in which we all are every day and hour 
of our lives, and from which we can never for even a moment 
escape. 

Again, sir, it is objected that they say they address us in 
the name of Almighty God. What is that but a mode of ar- 
resting or calling attention to their solemn prayer and earnest 
remonstrance 1 Sir, while there are occasions on which we 
never forget, never suffer ourselves to forget that we are respon- 
sible to Almighty God, it is equally true that all our action is, 
or ought to be, in the name of the Supreme Being. Sir, we 
may put off, we may lay aside the thoughts of that awful presence 
during our secular labors, and even during our life of confusion 
and toil, and turmoil and care ; but when we come to close our 
eyes upon this world, we can not shut them without the reflec- 
tion that we are ever here in the sight of the Judge of all 
men. Every man of us, when he comes to write his will, 
or his instructions, for those who are to come after him, recites 
that it is done in the name of God. Sir, as I have said, I 
should not adopt this mode of addressing the senate or Congress. 
It is not my habit to do so ; but I know that it is the habit, that 
it is in the character, in the way of those who have signed this 
memorial. I see no ground of objection to it. Is it disrespect- 



FREEDOM. 225 

fill to the senate of tlie United States, or to Congress, tliat men 
should say they speak to them in the name of God, and in his 
presence 1 If it be so, it must be because we claim to be here 
exempt from the superinteviding- government and providence of 
that Being, in whom and by whom we walk, and act, and through 
whom we exist upon the earth. 

But, sir, it is said that at the close of this remonstrance, 
there is another remark which is offensive, and that is, that the 
memorialists think the measure against which they protest is im- 
moral in its nature. Sir, the great measure proposed is either 
moral or immoral. There is no neutrality between morality and 
immorality. It may be that we may conscientiously differ in as- 
certaining which is the moral side, but nevertheless it is of one 
character or the other — either moral or immoral. These per- 
sons tell us they think it is of one character, others think it is 
of another character. It is our right to act. Let them think 
what they will, it is their right to tell us that, in their opinion, it 
is either one thing or the other, just as they understand and 
believe. 

Then, again, it is complained that the memorialists allege 
that the act will draw after it the judgments of Almighty God. 
Sir, by the judgments of Almighty God, I understand simply 
this : that every human act of any importance or magnitude is 
connected with preceding causes, and with subsequent effects ; 
that there is connected with a right act the consequence of use- 
fulness, of beneficence, of happiness, and all the blessings of a 
just Ruler ; and that, on the other hand, to those acts which, 
whether we deem them moral or immoral, whether intentionally 
wrong or not, are unwise, there are connected consequences of 
error, danger, peril, unbappiness, wretchedness, ruin. This, in 
my judgment, is all that that expression means. 

And now, sir, I come to the close of what I have to say on 
this Avhole matter ; and that is, that I regard this as a question 
of no idle importance. The right of petition is a constitutional 
right, and a useful and invaluable one, and I shall never be 
found criticising the language of petitioners or remonstrants, to 
see whether I can not find cause for cavil or for rejection, and 
petitioners and remonstrants may say precisely what they please, 
and precisely what they think, in Avhatever tone or language 

10* 



226 SELECTIONS. 

they think proper. They mny ntter ngamst me nny epithet 
which tliey please. They may invoke on my head any judg- 
ment tlie}' jdease. Still, sir, Avitli a conscience void of offence 
against God and man, I can go on here performing my duties, 
leaving them in the enjoyment of their rights, and listening to 
all that they say, precisely as if it had been rendered into the 
language of courtesy, or compliment, or of praise, which would 
be acceptable under other circumstances. It is because I wish 
that this right of petition may take no injury from the debate 
of this morning, that I have risen to vindicate the memorial, and 
to do justice to those from whom it has come. — Speech in Sen- 
ate on Rece2'tion of Remonstrance from 3050 Clergymen of Neio 
England against Repeal of Missouri Compromise, March 14, 1854. 

political HqualitM. ■ 

I AM in favor of the equality of men — of all men, whetker 
they be born in one land or born in another, I am in favor of 
receiving the whole. I acknowledge them all to constitute one 
great family, for whom it is the business of statesmen and the 
business of man to labor and to live. And, sir, when I do have 
occasion to ask the votes of those distinguished senators and 
friends in behalf of the alien and the foreigner, it will not be the 
exile, merely, who is commended to our sympathies for the suf- 
ferings he has sustained in the cause of liberty in Europe ; but 
it will be for the melioration of the laws of naturalization, which 
put a period of five years and an oath in the way of any man 
of any country in becoming a citizen, which raise a barrier be- 
tween ourselves and those who cast their lot among us. There 
is where they will find me ; and they will find that to the extent 
that humanity bears the semblance which is impressed upon us 
by the hand of our Maker, it is my design and my purpose to 
labor to bring about that equality in the land in which I live, 
and as far as may be, in all other lands. 

And, going upon this broad principle, I have no hesitation in 
saying that there is no distinction in my respect or affection be- 
tween men of one land and of another ; between men of one clime 
and another ; between men of one race and another ; or between 
men of one color and another ; no distinction but what is based, 



FREEDOM. 227 

not vpo7i instiUitions of government, not upon the consent of so- 
ciety, but upon their individual and personal merit. If the sen- 
ator from Georgia [Mr. Dawson] will test this, if he has this 
sympathy for free negroes which I am rejoiced to hear him pro- 
claim, let him bring in his bill, and the first ay that shall re- 
spond to it will be mine — if none should so respond to it before 
my name should be alphabetically reached. More than that ; 
if his sympathies embrace a class that deserve them still 
more — the slave — let him bring in his bill for the slave, and my 
voice for emancipating the slave in any district or territory 
shall go for it. Nay, more ; let him show me a way in which I 
can give a vote, an effectual vote, for the emancipation of the 
slave in his own state, or any state, and I shall feel honored to 
participate in the movement ; and my vote shall be given to 
sustain it, with more gladness, more gratitude, and more joy, 
than it was ever given upon any occasion in my life. 

Sir, neither here nor elsewhere will I admit, as a rule for the 
government of my own conduct, that there is a distinction be- 
tween men. But on the contrary, I will walk up to the mark, as- 
signed in the Declaration of Independence, that " all men are 
CREATED EQUAL." Sir, the first vote given by me to keep any 
man, or any class of men, in a condition below my own, is yet 
to be given. It never will be given in this place. — Speech, U. S. 
Senate, Jan. 30, 1850. 

3aeUflious JJntolerance. 

WiTHLM a few months a portion of the American community, 
men, women, and children, were compelled by American citizens 
to flee from burning dwellings in the night-time, and found their 
way to the woods and fields by the light of the flames which 
consumed not only their dwellings, but also their libraries, their 
hospitals, their churches, and their altars. The offence was 
that they or their ancestors were born in Ireland, and that they 
worshipped God according to the creed and ritual of the lloman 
Catholic church. And this has happened in the city that was 
founded by William Penn, and endowed by Benjamin Franklin 
— in the city where the Declaration of American Independence 
was promulgated, and where the American constitution was es- 
tablished. 



228 SELECTIONS. 

These great wrongs, the outbreak of long-chenshed "religious 
and political intolerance, were not its most fearful and alarming 
incident. Emboldened by popular forbearance, the spirit of pro- 
scription has approached Congress, with a demand for the full 
disfranchisement in America of all men not born on the Ameri- 
can soil. I say disfranchisement — for twenty-one years' resi- 
dence, which is now insisted on, as a condition of naturalization, 
would be virtual disfranchisement 

I have not heard the loud and deep-toned censures upon the 
Philadelphia wrongs, and upon the recent acts of British oppres- 
sion, which I expected from the American press and from the 
leaders of mind in America. Therefore in this hour of trial I 
come here freely to declare before my countrymen — and if my 
voice could reach the region of thrones, to declare before princi- 
palities and powers — that the injuries inflicted upon the Irish- 
men in America are a flagrant violation of law, of constitution, 
of liberty, and of humanity. I know, indeed, what this declar- 
ation costs. It may, indeed, give comfort to the poor and de- 
sponding exile, and awaken feelings of kindness toward me in 
his bosom, but it will offend very many of my own countrymen. 
Be it so. I desire the respect and regard of my own country- 
men ; but I would rather have the gratitude of one despond- 
ing and depressed fellow-man, than the suffrage of the whole 
American people given to me in consideration of denying any 
true principle of free government, or repressing any impulse of 
humanity 

Beheve not, fellow-citizens, that this is a question which in- 
terests or concerns only the voluntary citizen. The work of 
disfranchisement once effectually begun, would not cease with 
the debasement of one class or condition of men ; other classes 
would follow, and oligarchy be succeeded by despotism. Nor 
is this all. Let the wise men who favor this disfranchisement 
tell us how they expect to secure the subordination of the dis- 
franchised classes. They can not be expelled; they must 
increase — they increase by virtue of the irresistible and un- 
changeable laws of God. They can not be degraded to domes- 
tic slavery, and unless so degraded, they can not be held in sub- 
jection to authority, except in one of two ways, by their own 
voluntary consent, or by military force. Standing armies no 



FREEDOM. 2'29 

man dare defend : disfranchised men will not yield voluntary 
obedience. — Address at Utica, July, 1S44. 



Jiiitolecancc. 

I GREATLY fear that the American people do not know how 
highly they are respected and venerated by the down-trodden 
masses of Europe. Some among us are ambitious of the favor- 
able judgment of the privileged classes in the old world. Their 
respect and sympathies are not to be expected. We arc dis- 
turbers, innovators ; and the affection we gain in Europe must 
proceed from those to whom the progress of democratic princi- 
ples brings hope not terror. To the oppressed masses in France, 
in Greece, in Poland, in Italy, in England, and Ireland, the 
United States of America is tlie Palestine from which comes a 
revelation effectual to pohtical salvation. Thence, therefore, 
come pilgrims of hope, ardent and enthusiastic in the faith they 
have received from us, and they expect naturally and justly to 
be received and welcomed as brethren. Strange that any native 
American citizen should repel those pilgrims, and justly sad is 
their disappointment when repulsed. Not even the Christian 
knights who penetrated to the Holy City by crusade were more 
grieved when they discovered that the Christians of Jerusalem 
had relapsed into the superstition of the Moslem faith, and for- 
gotten the place of the tomb in which the Savior had reposed. 

So, too, when a revolution occurs in Europe, whether tempes- 
tuous and convulsive like those in France, Greece, and Poland, 
or moral and pacific like that in your own native land, the up- 
rising masses turn at once to the United States of Amenca for 
succor and for support ; and such is the mysterious fellowship 
produced by the love of liberty, that the sympathies of the Amer- 
ican people have always been found irrepressible. Ought it to 
be otherwise ? Who would not blush for his country if it were 
not so 1 The spirit of freedom, like that of Christianity, is ex- 
pansive and comprehensive. The church that sends forth no 
missionaries, need take heed, for its light is about to be darkened. 
The republic that desires no proselytes, must take warning, for 
its downfall is at hand. 

These sentiments, derived, I trust, from the teachings of the 



230 SELECTIONS. 

American Revolution, seem to me as wise as tliey are generous. 
If there be any petition which mankind might wish added to 
the formuLa given by the Savior, it would be that the scourge of 
war might cease, and that peace and good will might prevail 
among men. But peace and good will can never prevail until 
mankind learn and feel the simple truth, that however birth or 
language or climate may have made them differ — however 
mountains, deserts, rivers, and seas, may divide states — the na- 
tions of the earth are nevertheless one family, and all mankind are 
brethren, practically equal in endowments, equal in national and 
political rights, and equal in the favor of the common Creator. 

Exclusion of foreigners and hostility to foreign states always 
were elements of barbarism. The intermingling of races always 
was, and always will be, the chief element of civilization. Japan 
and China are exclusive states. Great Britain and the United 
States are social nations. So inconsistent is exclusiveness with 
progress, that, sooner or later, Providence wills the subjugation 
of unsocial states, thus securing the advancement of civilization 
compulsively, when nations obstinately resist it. The conquest 
of Mexico in the west, of India in the east, and the present hu- 
miliation of China, are illustrations of this great truth. 

If at St. Petersburg you seek the exchange, where Jhe Rus- 
sian " merchants most do congregate," the native understands 
not your inquiry, until you ask for the " Dutch" exchange. Thus 
do the subjects of the czar unwittingly perpetuate the memory 
of the fact that they owe their rising commerce to immigration 
from the Netherlands. I remember that in Clinton's time the 
Erie canal then in progress was stigmatized as the " Irish ditch." 
Had we been as generous as the natives of St. Petersburg, we 
should have persevered in that designation, and we should now 
confess for the instruction of mankind, that not only the Erie 
canal, but its numerous and far-reaching veins and arteries, and 
our railroads, harbors, and fortifications, were chiefly constructed 
by hardy, joyous, light-hearted, liberty-loving immigrants from 
Ireland. 

We emulate the sway of ancient Rome ; but Rome was wiser 
than those who affect an exclusive monopoly of American citizen- 
ship. Provinces and nations as soon as subjugated, became parts 
of the Roman empire, and although its eagles threatened conquest 



PEEEDOM. 231 

wherever they advanced, they nevertheless bore on their wings 
charters of Roman citizenship. 

Love for their native land is common to all men, but it ex- 
ceeds its just bounds when it leads men to despise or hate their 
fellow-men. This excess is the prejudice of ignorance. The 
native American can not half so heartily despise the Irishman, 
as the Chinese despises the American. He who has left his 
native land to seek an asylum here, has made a sacrifice to lib- 
erty which ought to commend him to our respect and affection. 
His children born here will be native Americans as we are ; the 
parent is a foreigner only as our own parents or ancestors, near 
or remote, also were. 

Do we excel, because the foreigner can not speak our lan- 
guage. We can not speak his. It were well if each knew the 
lano-uae-e of the other, for it is stored with treasures which would 
add immeasurably to his knowledge and the elements of his 
happiness. 

The battle-cry of liberty is as animating when sounded in 
French, in German, or m Spanish, as in English, and the accents 
of love and affection are tender in whatever dialect they may 
have utterance. Should differences of religious belief divide us ? 
Washington invoked the Divine blessing on our array in a prot- 
estant ritual — Lafayette employed the Roman formulary. Would 
the prayers of either have been answered, if they had carried 
into council quarrels from the altar 1 We ought never to forget 
that, various as are the expositions of our holy faith, they all 
agree in this, that without charity there is no Christianity. — 
Letter, March 15, 1844. 

Sloufs Hossutl). 

I AM a lover of peace. I shall never freely give my consent 
to any measure which I shall think will tend to involve this na- 
tion in the calamities of foreign war. I believe that our mission 
is a mission of republicanism. But I believe that we shall best 
execute it by maintaining peace at home and with all mankind ; 
and if I saw in this measure a step in advance toward the bloody 
field of contention in the affairs of Europe, I, too, would hesitate 
long before adopting it. But I see no advance toward any such 



232 SELECTIONS. 

danger in doing a simple act of national justice and magnanim- 
ity. I believe that no man will deny the principle, that a na- 
tion may do for the cause of liberty in other nations whatever 
the laws of nations do not forbid. I plant myself npon that 
principle. What the laws of nations do not forbid, any nation 
may do for the cause of civil liberty in any other nation, in any 
other country. Now, the laws of nations do not forbid hospital- 
ity. The laws of nations do not forbid us to sympathize with 
the exile — to sympathize with the overthrown champion of 
freedom. The laws of nature demand that hospitality, and 
from the very inmost sources of our nature springs up that sym- 
pathy. What is that great epic poem which has filled the sec- 
ond place in the admiration, I had almost said in the affections, 
of mankind for two thousand years, but the history of an exile 
flying from the walls of his burning city and devoted state ? 
Sir, the laws of nature require — the laws of nations command 
hospitahty to those who fly from oppression and despair. And 
this is all that we have done, and all that we propose to do. We 
have invited Kossuth — we have procured his release from cap- 
tivity — we have brought him here — and we propose to say to 
him, standing upon our shores with his eye directed to us, and 
while we know that the eyes of the civilized world are fixed 
upon him and us, " Louis Kossuth, in the name of the American 
people we bid you a cordial welcome." * * * * 

I will suppose now that the opposition made to this resolution 
is effective. I will suppose that the measure is defeated. Let 
us look to the consequences beyond. What are they 1 Kossuth, 
admitted here to be the representative of the down-trodden con- 
stitutional liberties of his own country, and the representative 
of the up-rising liberties of Europe, shakes from his feet the 
dust that has gathered upon them on American shores, and re- 
turns to the eastern continent — returns upon a point of honor 
with the United States of America, and therefore, in a practical 
view, returns, as he will say, and those devoted to his cause will 
say, repulsed, driven back. Where then, sir, shall he find wel- 
come and repose ? Li his own beautiful native land, at the base 
or on the slopes of the Carpathian hills ? No ! the Austrian 
despot reigns absolutely there. Shall he find it in Germany, 
en St or west, north or south ? No sir ; the despot of Austria and 



FREEDOM. 2-j3 

the despot of Prussia reign absolutely there. Shall he find it 
under the sunny skies of Italy ? No, sir ; for the Austrian mon- 
arch has crushed Italy to the earth. Shall he find it in Siberia, 
or in the frozen regions of the North ? No, sir ; for the Russian 
czar, who drove him from his native land and forced him into 
exile in Turkey, will be ready to seize the fugitive. The scaf- 
fold awaits him there. Where shall he go? Shall he seek 
protection again from the sceptred Turk? The Turk would 
say, ' You have eaten my salt as a voluntary captive, and I shel- 
tered you until you left me under the seductions of the republic 
of the United States. If you come now, the laws of my country 
and of my God will not oblige or allow me to hazard the peace 
of my OAvn people again to extend protection over you.' Where, 
then, shall he go ? Where else on the face of broad Europe 
can he find refuge but in the land of your forefathers, in Britain? 
There, God be thanked, there would be a welcome and a home 
for him. Ai'e you prepared to give to the world evidence that 
you can not receive the representative of liberty and republican- 
ism, whom England can honor, shelter, and protect ? 

But, My. President, Avill this transaction end there ? I fancy 
that I see the exile wending his lonely way, with downcast 
look, along the streets and thoroughfares of the great metropo- 
lis of Britain and the world, forsaken and abandoned, but not 
forgotten. Will it end in that ? No, sir. Beyond us, above 
us, there is a tribunal, higher and greater than the Congress of 
the United States. It is a tribunal wliose existence and juris- 
diction and authority we have acknowledged, and to whose juilg- 
ment-seat we have already called the Turk, the Austrian, and 
the Russian, to account for their action in regard to Hungary 
and to Kossuth. It is the tribunal of the public opinion of the 
world — the public opinion of mankind. Sir, that tribunal is 
unerring in its judgments. It is constituted of the great, the 
wise and the good of all nations — not only of the great, and 
wise, and good, who are now living, but of the great, the 
wise, and the good of all ages. Before that tribunal, states, 
great and small, are equal. A}^ before that tribunal the proud- 
est empire is equalled by its humblest citizen or subject. Yes, 
the Indian and the serf are equal there to the American repub- 
lic and to the Russian empire. I know no living man entitled 



234 SELECTIONS. 

by the consent of Christendom to preside in that august tribunal. 
But there is a venerable form that seems to rise up before me, 
and all the congregated nations and people deferentially make 
way as he advances and takes the judgment-seat. It is the 
shade of Franklin. And there I see the parties opposed. On 
the one side stands Hungary, downcast and sorrowful, but she 
is surrounded by the people of many lands, who wait her re- 
demption and their own. On the other side I see the United 
States of America, sustained — most singular conjunction! — by 
the youthful and impatient Bonaparte, the sickly successor of 
the Eomans, and the czar of all the Eussias. I hear the im- 
peachment read. It is, that the United States have dishonored 
and insulted the unfortunate representative of unfortunate Hun- 
gary ; that they found him a captive in Asia Minor, imder the 
protection of the Turk, but subjected to the surveillance of the 
Russian tyrant ; that they addressed to him words of sympathy 
and hope, and that they brought to the doors of his captivity 
a national vessel, with their time-honored flag, and bade him to 
come upon its deck and be conveyed to a land of constitutional 
freedom — a land where the advocates and champions of univer- 
sal liberty were sure to enjoy respect and sympathy, and frater- 
nal Avelcome ; and that when they had so seduced him from a 
place of obscurity, but of safety, and had thus brought him 
to their own shores, and when he stood waiting there for one 
simple word of welcome, one simple look of recognition, they 
turned away from him, spurned him from their presence, and 
cast him back upon the charities of Christian or Turk, in what- 
ever land they might be found. 

That is the impeachment. And the United States hold up 
the right hand and answer, "Not guilty.'^ I see the books of 
testimony opened on behalf of Hungary. Here they are. A 
resolution of the Congress of the United States of America, 
passed in the year 1850, tendering the hospitalities of the nation, 
and the use of a national ship, to Louis Kossuth ; then the mes- 
sage of the president of the United States, in 1851, calling upon 
Congress to say what shall be the ceremonial of receiving him 
who has been brought here under their authority ; and then the 
record of this senate, that upon a division of its members, a res- 
olution of welcome was rejected. That constitutes the case on 



FREEDOM. 235 

the part of Hungary. Sir, the United States appear in that 
august tribunal by learned and eloquent defenders and advo- 
cates. I see there my ardent and enthusiastic young friend from 
Alabama [Mr. Clemexs], and the candid and learned senator 
from Kentucky [Mr. Uxderwood], the impulsive and generous 
senator from Georgia [Mr. Dawson], the very learned and as- 
tute advocate, the honorable senator from North Carolina [Mr. 
Badger], and, lastly, he who holds the first place in our vene- 
ration of living senators, save only one [Mr. Clay], the honora- 
ble senator from Georgia [Mr. Berrien]. I listen to the long, 
elaborate, and earnest defence which they make against this im- 
peachment. Hungar}^ declines to reply ; and Kossuth, the ora- 
tor of modern times, upon whom she leans for support, for the 
first time overcome by a sense of cruel insult, is silent, dumb. 

The defence is weighed by that august Shade, in whose placid 
countenance I read at once the sagacity of the lightning hunter 
and the common sense of Poor E-ichard : " You say, that your 
invitation to the Magyar 'justified on his part and on tlie 
part of Hungary no expectation of a welcome.' How, then, 
came Kossuth, how came Hungary, how came the M'orld, how 
came your president, to misunderstand the invitation which was 
addressed to the exile ? When did you first revise your diplom- 
acy to ascertain to what extent you might abridge the hospital- 
ities to which you had invited him 1 Not until you were com- 
mitted before the world. You say that ' Kossuth was invited to 
be a resident, to become a citizen of the United States, and yet 
that he came, on the contrary, as a transient guest.' Grant it ; 
what then 1 Is a welcome less due to him whom you have in- 
vited as a perpetual guest, when he comes to thank you and 
decline the courtesy, than if he had accepted it and had become 
a perpetual charge upon your hospitalities ? You say that the 
honors to Kossuth ' were moved in your senate by ambitious as- 
pirants for place and distinction.' Has, then, my country degen- 
erated so much that there are no true, genuine patriots in the 
senate of the United States who could lead that illustrious body 
in the discharge of so great a national obligation ] You plead 
that the Hungarian chief ' was a noble by birth, an aristocrat by 
education and association, and that he had devoted himself in 
an effort not to disseminate the spirit of universal liberty, but to 



236 SELECTIONS. 

fortify the privileges of the Magyar race.' If that be so, did you 
not know it when you invited him ? If you did not, how can 
you justify your ignorance of a character that was blazoned to 
the world ? But it is not true. Kossuth's first public action in 
early youth, was an effort, through the Hungarian Diet, to ex- 
tend equal privileges of representation, of suffrage, and of taxa- 
tion, to all the people of Hungary, without distinction of rank, 
or caste, or race. For his fidelity to the great cause of human 
equality and freedom, he was imprisoned three long years in a 
dungeon in the castle of Buda, by the hand of the Austrian des- 
pot. When he came out from that captivity, he commenced 
that career of agitation for the restoration of the constitution of 
his country, which ended with success in the year 1848. When 
he had wrung that charter from the emperor of Austria, his con- 
stitutional king, the first exercise of Hungarian authority by the 
legislature which he directed, was an act which abolished all the 
feudal tenures, that brought land within the reach of all, and put 
the Croat, the Wallachian, the Illyrian, the Jew, and the Mag- 
yar, upon the same platform of equality before the law, equality 
before the government, equality in representation, equality in 
suffrage, and equality in enduring the burdens of government. 
It was for this that he was hunted from his native land and 
came an exile to your shores. Who pursued him there with re- 
proaches of falsehood to freedom 1 Not the Jew, the Croat, or 
the Sclave, but the tyrant of Austria, who has reduced all the 
people of Hungary, of whatever rank or race or caste, to the 
level of slaves. You say that you were willing to give Kossuth 
a welcome, but that he demanded more. How did you know 
that he ' demanded more' ? How did you learn that Kossuth 
demanded more than a cordial welcome 1 Where did he ask of 
you even so much as a welcome ? Was it in your capital ? To 
whom did he address his extravagant and offensive reclamation? 
Was it to your president ? to your ministry 1 to your Congress ? 
No ; all alike refused to receive him, refused even to hear him 
speak, and yet you say he demanded too much. You closed his 
mouth before he had time to tell you what he thouglit, and what 
he wanted, or whether lie wanted anything. But you reply, he 
was overheard to say that he expected arms, men, money, ' ma- 
terial aid, and intervention.' Overheard ? What ! did y^on de- 



FREEDOM. 237 

liver Kossuth from Russian snrveillnnce in Turkey to establish 
an espionage over him of 3'our own 1 Shame ! sliame to the 
country that so lightly regards the sanctit}' of the cliaracter of 
a stranger and an exile ! But you say that he would have de- 
manded intervention. Suppose he should have demanded inter- 
vention ? Would you have^, been less able to have met that 
unreasonable demand after having accorded to him the exact 
justice which was his due, than you are now when you have 
done him injustice, and thus clothed him witli the sympathies of 
your people and of mankind 1 But you aver that he spoke 
irreverently of your anthorily : he was overheard to say, in the 
outgushing of his gratitude to the generous people who received 
him on Staten Island, that the people Avere the sovereigns of the 
government of the United States, and you can not pardon that 
offence. What if he did say that? Are not ihe people the 
sovereigns of the government of the United States ? Which one 
of your senators or representatives dare deny in his place that 
the people are his sovereigns 1 But you say that you had a 
precedent ; that you once took offence at a minister of France 
who assumed the same position. You refer to Genet. But 
there is no parallel. Genet was a minister of a government ac- 
tually hostile, almost belligerent. He was in negotiation, and 
his demands were denied. He took an appeal from the decision 
of your government to the people. But Kossuth is no minister. 
He is your guest. He went to you not to negotiate, or to de- 
mand a light. He went by your invitation to enjoy your hos- 
pitalities. You have decided nothing against him. He has sub- 
mitted no appeal. I do not say that you ought to have granted 
intervention had it been demanded. But I do say this, that the 
Hungarian would have demanded no more of you than, in a 
strait less severe than his, I solicited and obtained for the United 
States of America from the Bourbon of France. Could you not 
have pardoned him for asking what you had once asked and 
obtained for yourselves 1 Was it so great a fault in him to sup- 
pose that now, in the day of your greatness, prosperity, and 
power, you might not be unwilling to do for Hungary what, in 
the day of your infancy, poverty, and weakness, France had 
done for yourselves ? You say you stand upon precedent. Pre- 
cedent ] By whom established ? By yourselves. Was Hun- 



238 SELECTIONS. 

gaiy concluded by such a precedent ? And what precedent ? 
The precedent of the reception given to Lafayette ? Was not 
even that reception grudgingly given by the Congress of the 
United States'? If the ashes of Lafayette coukl be reanimated, 
and he coukl present himself again upon your shores, would you 
not now willingly accord him a gj;eater than the welcome he 
before received at your hands — a welcome such as it was pro- 
posed to give to Kossuth '? Wherein does the parallel between 
Kossuth and Lafayette fail ? Lafayette began his career as a 
soldier of liberty in the cause of your country ; but he pursued 
it through life in an effort to establish a republic in his own be- 
loved land. Kossuth found the duty which first devolved upon 
him was to wage a struggle for freedom in his own country. 
When overborne there, he became, like Lafayette, a champion 
of liberty throughout the world. You say that the Russian 
might have taken offence. Is America, then, brought so low 
that she fears to give offence when commanded by the laws of 
nature and of nations ? What right had Russia to prescribe 
whom you should receive and whom reject from your hospitali- 
ties ? Let no such humiliation be confessed." 

Thus in the tribunal of the public opinion of mankind, all our 
pleas are disallowed. We have exposed ourselves to the censure 
— I will not say the derision of the world. — Speeches in U. S. 
Senate, December, 1851. 

Conijvcssional €:omj)vomisc». 

It is insisted that the admission of California shall be at- 
tended by a COMPROMISE of questions which have arisen out of 

SLAVERY ! 

I AM OPPOSED TO ANY SUCH COMPROMISE, IN ANY AND ALL 
THE FORMS IN WHICH IT HAS BEEN PROPOSED ; because, while 

admitting the purity and the patriotism of all from whom it is 
my misfortune to differ, I think all legislative compromises, 
which are not absolutely necessary, radically wrong and essen- 
tially vicious. They involve the surrender of the exercise of 
judgment and conscience on distinct and separate questions, at 
distinct and separate times, with the indispensable advantages it 
affords for ascertaining truth. They involve a relinquishment of 



FREEDOM. 239 

the riglit to reconsider in future the decisions of the present, on 
questions prematurely anticipated. And they are acts of usurpa- 
tion as to future questions of tlie province of future legisLitors. 

Sir, it seems to me as if shivery had laid its paralyzing hand 
upon myself, and the blood were coursing less freely than its 
wont through my veins, when I endeavor to suppose that such 
a compromise has been effected, and that my utterance for ever 
is arrested upon all the great questions — social, moral, and 
political — arising out of a subject so important, and as yet so 
incomprehensible. 

What am I to receive in this compromise ? Freedom in Cali- 
fornia. It is well ; it is a noble acquisition ; it is worth a sacri- 
fice. But what am I to give as an equivalent? A recognition 
of the claim to perpetuate slavery in the District of Columbia ; 
forbearance toward more stringent laws concerning the arrest of 
persons suspected of being slaves found in the free states ; for- 
bearance from the proviso of freedom in the charters of new 
territories. None of the plans of compromise offered demand 
less than two, and most of them insist on all of these conditions. 
The equivalent, then, is, some portion of liberty, some portion 
of human rights in one region for liberty in another region. 
But California brings gold and commerce as well as freedom. 
I am, then, to surrender some portion of human freedom in the 
District of Columbia, and in East California and New Mexico, 
for the mixed consideration of liberty, gold, and power, on the 
Pacific coast. 

This view of legislative compromises is not new. It has 
widely prevailed, and many of the state constitutions interdict 
the introduction of more than one subject into one bill submitted 
for legislative action. 

It was of such compromises that Burke said, in one of the 
loftiest bursts of even his majestic parliamentary eloquence : — 

"Far, far from the commons of Great Britain be all manner of real vice; 
but ten thousand times farther from them, as far as from pole to pole, be 
the whole tribe of spurious, affected, counterfeit, and hypocritical virtues! 
These are the things which are ten thousand times more at war with real 
virtue, these are the things which are ten thousand times more at war with 
real duty, than any vice known by its name and distinguished by its proper 
character. 

"Far, far from us be that false and affected candor that is eternally in 



240 SELECTIONS. 

treaty with crime — thnt half virtue, wliieh, like the ambiguous animal that 
flies about in the twilight of a compromise between day and night, is, to a 
just man's eye, an odious and disgusting thing. There is no middle point, 
my lords, in which the commons of Great Britain can meet tyranny and 
oppression." — Speech in U. S. Senate, March 11, 1850. 

2rf)e 2^eca|)tion of j^u^iWoc Slabcs in tl)c JFree States. 

I ADVERT to the proposed alteration of the Law concerning 
fugitives from service or labor. I shall speak on this as on all 
subjects with clue respect, but yet frankly and Avithout reserva- 
tion. The constitution contains only a compact, which rests for 
its execution on the states. Not content with this, the slave 
states induced legislation by Congress ; and the supreme court 
of the United States have virtually decided that the whole sub- 
ject is within the province of Congress, and exclusive of state 
authority. Nay, they have decided that slaves are to be regarded 
not merely as persons to be claimed', but as property and chat- 
tels, to be seized without any legal authority or claim whatever. 
The compact is thus subverted by the procurement of the slave 
states. With what reason, then, can they expect the states, ex 
gratia, to reassume the obligations from which tliey caused those 
states to be discharged ? I say, then, to the slave states, you 
are entitled to no more stringent laws ; and that such laws would 
be useless. The cause of the inefficiency of the present statute 
is not at all the leniency of its provisions. It is a law that de- 
prives the alleged refugee from a legal obligation not assumed 
by him, but imposed upon him by laws enacted before he was 
born, of the writ of habeas corpus, and of any certain judicial 
process of examination of the claim set up by his pursuer, and 
finally degrades him into a chattel which may be seized and 
carried away peaceably wherever found, even although exer- 
cising the rights and reponsibilities of a free citizen of the com- 
monwealth in which he resides, and of the United States — a 
law which denies to the citizen all the safeguards of personal 
liberty, to render less frequent the escape of the bondman. 
And since complaints are so freely made against the one side, I 
shall not hesitate to declare that there have been even greater 
faults on the other side. Relying on the perversion of the con- 
stitution, which makes slaves m^re chattels, the slave states 



FREEDOM. 241 

have applied to them the principles of the ciiininal Inw, and 
have held that he who aided the escape of his fellow man from 
bondage was guilty of a larceny in stealing him. I speak of 
what I know. Two instances came within my own knowledge, 
in which governors of slave states, under the provision of the 
constitution relating to fugitives from justice, demanded from the 
governor of a free state the surrender of persons as thieves 
whose alleged offences consisted in constructive larceny of the 
rags that covered the persons of female slaves, whose attempt 
at escape they had permitted or assisted. 

We deem the principle of the law for the recapture of fugi- 
tives, as thus expounded, therefore, unjust, unconstitutional, and 
immoral ; and thus, while patriotism withholds its approbation, 
the consciences of our people condemn it. 

You will say that these convictions of ours are disloyal. 
Grant it for the sake of argument. They are, nevertheless, 
honest ; and the law is to be executed among us, not among 
you ; not by us, but by the federal authority. Has any govern- 
ment ever succeeded in changing the moral convictions of its 
subjects by force ? But these convictions imply no disloyalty. 
We reverence the Constitution, although we perceive this de- 
fect, just as we acknowledge the splendor and the power of the 
sun, although its surface is tarnished with here and there an 
opaque spot. 

Your constitution and laws convert hospitality to the refugee 
from the most degrading oppression on earth into a crime, but 
all mankind except you esteem that hospitality a virtue. The 
right of extradition of a fugitive from justice is not admitted by 
the law of natin-e and of nations, but rests in voluntary compacts. 
I know of only two compacts found in diplomatic history that 
admitted extradition of slaves. Here is one of them. It 
is found in a treaty of peace made between Alexander, Comne- 
nus, and Leontine, Greek emperors at Constantinople, and Gleg, 
king of Russia, in the year 902, and is in these words : — 

"If a Russian slave take flight, or even if he is carrieil away by any one, 
under pretence of having been bought, his master sliall have the right and 
power to pui-sue him, and liunt for and capture him wherever he shall be 
found; and any person who shall oppose the master in the execution of 
this right, shall be deemed guilty of violating this treaty, and be punished 
accordingly." # 

11 



242 SELECTIO."N'S. 

This was in the year of grace 902, in the period called the 
" Dark Ages," and the contracting powers were despotisms. 
And here is the other : — 

"No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, 
escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation there- 
in, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up, on 
claim of the party to whom such service or labor is due." 

This is from the constitution of the United States in 1787, and 
the parties were the republican states of this Union. The law 
of nations disavows such compacts ; the law of nature, written 
on the hearts and consciences of freemen, repudiates them. 
Armed power could not enforce them, because there is no pub- 
lic conscience to sustain them. I know that there are laws of 
various sorts Avhich regulate the conduct of men. There are 
constitutions and statutes, codes mercantile and codes clyil • but 
when we are legislating for states, especially when we are found- 
ing states, all these laAvs must be brought to the standard of the 
laws of God, and must be tried by that standard, and must 
stand or fall by it. This principle was happily explained by 
one of the most distinguished political philosophers of England 
in these emphatic words : — 

"There is but one law for all, namely, that la^v which governs all law; 
the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity, the law of 
nature and of nations. So far as any laws fortify this primeval law, and 
give it more precision, more energy, more effect by their declarations, such 
laws enter into the sanctuary and participate in the sacredness of its char- 
acter; but the man who quotes as precedents the abuses of tyrants and rob- 
bers, pollutes the very fountains of justice, destroys the foundations of all 
law, and therefore removes the only safeguard against evil men, whether 
governors or governed; the guard which prevents governors from becoming 
tyrants, and the governed from becoming rebels." 

There was deep philosophy in the confession of an eminent 
English judge. When he had condemned a young Avoman to 
death, under the late sanguinary code of his country, for her 
first petty theft, she fell down dead at his feet. " I seem to 
myself," said he, " to have been pronouncing sentence, not 
against the prisoner, but against the law itself." 

To conclude on this point. We are not slaveholders. We 
can not, in our judgment, be either true Christians or real free- 
men, if we impose on another a ch^jn that we defy all human 



FREEDOM. 243 

power to fasten on ourselves. You believe and think otlierwise, 
and doubtless with equal sincerity. We jndge you not, and He 
alone who ordained the conscience of man and its laws of action 
can judge us. Do we then, in this conflict of opinion, demand 
of you an unreasonable thing in asking that, since you will havo 
property that can and will exercise human powers to effect its 
escape, you shall be your own police, and, in acting among us 
as such, you shall conform to principles indispensable to the 
security of admitted rights of freemen ? If you will have this 
law executed, you must alleviate, not increase, its rigors. — 
Speech in U. S. Senate, March 11, 1850. 

S:|)e iFuflitibr Slabc 2Lab) of 1793 Q^nconstitutional anO 17oiO. 

The law is based upon the second section of Article IV. of 
the constitution : " No person held to service or labor, in one 
state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in 
consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged 
from such service or labor ; but shall be delivered up, on claim 
of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." 

If we admit, for the purpose of the argument, that this sec- 
tion furnishes ground for the exercise of legislation, by the Con- 
gress of the United States, to cany the section into execution, 
we may, nevertheless, confidently assert, that such legislation 
must be confined to the very object and purpose of the section, 
and can not be extended further. If any state should pass any 
law, or establish any regulation adapted to work a discharge of 
persons escaping into its jurisdiction from lawful obligation of 
labor or service, existing in the state whence they fled, or to 
prevent their delivery to proper claimants, Congress might ab- 
rogate such law or regulation. But such an act of abrogation 
would be unnecessary, because the offensive law or regulation 
would be unconstitutional, and ipso facto void. Here the con- 
stitutional power reposed in Congress to legislate on this subject 
must end; for the object of the second article is attained when 
such action or legislation by the several states, is effectually 
prohibited or defeated. We admit that the section provides that 
the fugitive " shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to 
whom such service or labor may be due." But these are merely 



244 SELECTIONS. 

words of explanation, giving precision, force, and effect, to the 
inhibition of the passage of laws or adoption of regulations by 
the states for the discharge of fugitives. Any law or regulation 
of a state, which may work the discharge of the fugitive, shall 
be so absolutely void, that not only such consequence shall not 
take effect, but the right of recaption shall not be at all affected 
by such law or regulation. The section would have full, com- 
plete, and satisfactory effect through judicial action. If a per- 
son in any court of any state claimed that another who had 
escaped into its juiisdiction was lawfully held in the state whence 
he fled, to labor for the claimant, and if the defendant being 
either the person against whom the claim was made, or any 
other person, or even the state within whose jurisdiction the 
fugitive was found, should interpose by plea any law or regula- 
tion affecting to discharge him from such obligation imposed by 
the law of the other state, that plea should be overruled. The 
second section would necessarily receive this complete effect by 
the adjudication of the courts of law of the United States, and 
of every state, without any interposition by Congress whatever. 
No law of Congress could give to the section any greater force, 
effect, or power ; because all laws must be tried by the constitu- 
tion before the judiciary. It results from this that the court in 
which such a claim should be asserted, would be confined to try 
the questions first, whether the alleged fugitive from labor was 
held to labor to the claimant in another state by the laws of 
that state, and secondly, Avhether he had escaped from that state 
into the state where he was found. And the court would have 
a right to decide upon the validity of the laws of the other state, 
by which the fugitive was alleged to be held to labor, and be 
obliged to decide upon them as courts now do in all cases of 
conflict of laws. The court would be restricted in this judicial 
proceeding, only in two respects ; first, they must not allow a 
plea of any law or regulation of the state where the fugitive 
was found, to work his discharge from an obligation created by 
the laws of the state from which he fled ; and secondly, the 
court might perhaps be obhged, by the last clause of the section, 
to pronounce judgment, that the fugitive should be delivered to 
the party Avho had established the claim to the labor or service 
of the fugitive. If it be assumed that the courts of the state, or 



FREEDOM. 245 

of the United States, might disregavfl the conslitutional inhihi- 
tion : we reply, first, that Congress can not presume, nor can 
this court presume that any court wouhl he guilty of a derelic- 
tion ; and secondly, that the remedy could always he applied in 
a revision of the proceedings of inferior courts hy the supreme 
court of the United States, whose power on questions of consti- 
tutional law is higher than that of the legislature 

Again. It isi» a duty of the citizen, and a duty nf man, in 
every social state, and even in savage life, to give necessary 
shelter, comfort, and sustenance, to the wayfaring man, the 
stranger, and the fugitive. Such exiles have a natural right to 
demand protection and charity. That right is sustained hy di- 
vine laws. The act of 1793, however necessary, or even just its 
provisions, hy forhidding hospitalities to a class excepted from 
among all other men, is in derogation of the rights of citizenship, 
and of manhood. — Argument, U. S. ^irpremc Court, Dec, 1847. 

Hvtvatiition of jFuQi'tibcs. 

" No person held to service or labor, in one state, under the 
laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any 
law or regulation therein, he discliarged from stick service or labors 
hut shall be delivered up on claim of the party," &c. This is 
a mere announcement of a principle which shall be paramount, 
in courts of justice, to any local laws or regulations. 

Nor is the origin of the principle of this latter clause, in any 
degree the same, with the source to which we have traced the 
principle of extradition of fugitives from justice. The latter is 
found in the comity of nations, and in the necessity of maintain- 
ing the cause of justice, of order, of law, and of government. 
The former has no such foundation. If by the words " persons 
held to service or labor" are meant, as some suppose, persons 
held by contract, v/e shall look in vain throughout the history 
of every civilized state, for a principle so much at war with hu- 
man liberty, as the surrender of fugitive debtors. Some modern 
states allow to citizens, or subjects of other states, access to 
courts of justice, to enforce obligations of debt by the remedies 
given in similar cases to their own citizens. None ever surren- 
dered — and none ever will surrender a fugitive debtor, to be 
conveyed to the state where the obligation was incurred. 



246 SELECTIONS. 

Another opinion exists, wliicb is thus expressed by the late 
and lamented Justice Stoiy : " The object of this clause was 
* to secure to the citizens of the slave-holding states the complete 
right and title of ownership in their slaves as property in every 
state in the Union, into which they might escape from the state 
where they were held in servitude.' " If this opinion be adopt- 
ed, the very shadow of analogy between the two constitutional 
powers will vanish. For, by the general law of nations, none 
is bound to recognise the state of slavery as to foreign slaves, 
found within its territorial dominions, when it is in opposition to 
its own policy and institutions, in f;wor of the subjects of other 
nations, where slavery is recognised. There is not now, and 
never was, any such comity of nations, as dictated compacts for 
the surrender of fugitive slaves. No Christian nation would 
ever make such a compact. Every state has denied an obliga- 
tion to surrender persons claimed to be slaves. It was truly 
said, by the distinguished judge last mentioned, that " if the con- 
stitution had not contained the clause now under consideration, 
every non-slaveholding state in the Union would have been at 
liberty to have declared free all runaway slaves coming within 
its limits, and to have given them entire immunitj^ and protec- 
tion against the claims of their masters." Therefore the clause 
is an abridgment of state sovereignty — it conflicts with the prin- 
ciples of natural and civil liberty, and contrasts, at least, strongly 
with the rights and privileges guarantied to the citizens of all 
the states by the constitution. It is, therefore, to be strictly 
construed. If strictly construed, the clause spends its whole 
force in an inhibition of laws and regulations calculated, in one 
state, to work a discharge of fugitives held to labor in other 
states, by the laws thereof, and neither needs nor contemplates, 
legislation by Congress, but relies for its execution, upon the 
judicial authorities of the states and of the Union. 

The work of usurpation once begun, derives strength from 
precedent and fearful force from judicial acquiescence. Thus 
it has happened in regard ^to the claim under consideration. The 
very structure of the provision shows that it was designed merely 
to limit and restrict the legislative power of the states, not to 
deprive them of all power to legislate concerning fugitives from 
slavery. No person held to labor by the laws of one state, and 



FREEDOM. 247 

escaping into another, shall be discharged in consequence of any 
la\v or regulation of that state. This language plainly implies 
that any state may pass what laws, and establish what regula- 
tions it may deem expedient, and those laws will be valid and 
eflectual, save only in one respect, namely, that no person shall, 
in consequence thereof, be discharged from labor or service due, 
in another state, by the laws thereof. It was so understood 
throughout the Union. Accordingly, at a very early period, 
every state, or almost every state, enacted laws regulating the 
proceedings on the claim of fugitives, in harmony, as was be- 
lieved, with the constitutional provisions. But after a lapse of 
fifty years, and after acquiescence during that period by nearly 
all the states in this system of legislation, it was decided in the 
case of Prigg vs. Pennsylvania, that the restriction of state leg- 
islative power was an absolute inhibition of its exercise. With 
the most profound deference, we submit that the error of that 
adjudication need not be exposed by argument, but is apparent 
and renTlered palpable, by bringing the constitution and the 
adjudication into simple juxtaposition and contrast. — Argument 
in U. S.Siqn-cme Court, 1847. 

2Emanci^atiO!i '\\\ t!)C Bistrict of CColumbia. 

We of the free states are, equally ^\ith you of the slave 
states, responsible for the existence of slavery in this district, the 
field exclusively of our common legislation. I regret that, as 
yet, I see little reason to hope that a majority in favor of eman- 
cipation exists here. The legislature of New York, from whom, 
with great deference, I dissent, seems willing to accept now the 
extinction of the slave-trade, and waive emancipation. But we 
shall assume the whole responsibility if Ave stipulate not to ex- 
ercise the power hereafter when a majority shall be obtained. 
Nor will the plea with Avhich you would furnish us be of any 
avail. If I could understand so mysterious a paradox myself, I 
never should be able to explain to the apprehension of the peo- 
ple whom I represent, liow it was that an absolute and express 
power to legislate in all cases over the District of Columbia was 
embarrassed and defeated by an implied condition not to legis- 
late for the abolition of slavery in this district. Sir, I shall vote 



248 SELECTIOI^^S. 

for that measure, and I am willing- to appropriate any means 
necessary to carry it into execution. And, if I shall be asked 
what I did to embellish the capital of my country, I will point 
to her freedmen, and say, " These are the monuments of my mu- 
nificence !" 
******** 

I think it wrong to hold' men in bondage at any time and 
under any circumstances. I thing it right and just, therefore, 
to abolish slavery when we have the power, at any time, at all 
times, under any circumstances. Noav, sir, so far as the objection 
rests upon the time when this measure is proposed, I beg leave 
to say that if the present time is not the right time, then there 
must be, or there nnist have been, some other time, and that 
must be a time that is already past, or time yet to come. Well, 
sir, slavery has existed here under the sanction of Congress for 
fifty years, undisturbed. The right time, then, has not passed. 
It must, therefore, be a future time. Will gentlemen oblige me 
and the country by telling us how far down in the future the right 
time lies 1 When will it be discreet to bring before Congress 
and the people the abolition of slavery in the District of Colum- 
bia 1 Sir, let not senators delude themselves. The right time, 
if it be not now, will never come. Sir, each senator must judge 
for himself. Judging for myself, I am sure the right time has 
come. Past the middle age of life, it has happened to me now, 
for the first time, to be a legislator for slaves. I believe it to be 
my duty to the people of this district, to the country, and to 
mankind, to restore them to freedom. For the performance of 
such a duty, the ^rst time and the Jirst occasion which offers is 
the rfg7U one. The people who sent me here knew my opin- 
ions and my principles on that subject. If I should waive this 
time and this occasion, such is the uncertainty of human life and 
human events, that no other may offer themselves to me. I could 
not return to the people who sent me here, nor could I go be- 
fore my Maker, having been here, without having humbly, but 
firmly, endeavored to discharge that great obligation. 

Sir, I can spare one word of reply, not to the wretched impu- 
tation that I seek by this measure to dissolve the union of these 
states, but to the argument that the measure itself tends to so 
disastrous a consummation. This Union is the feeblest and 



FREEDOM. 249 

weakest national power that exists on the eni-t]i, if a; itli twonty 
milHons of freemen now it can not bear the sliock of athlin;,- two 
thousand to their number. The Union stands, as I have de- 
monstrated at Large on former occasions, not upon a majority 
of voices in either or both houses of Congress upon any measure 
whatever, but upon enduring physical, social, and political ne- 
cessities, which will survive all the questions and commotions 
and alarms of this day, and will survive the extinction of slavery, 
not only in the District of Columbia, but tliroughout the world. 
Others may try to save it from imnginary perils, by concessions 
to slavery. I ^shall still seek to perpetuate it, by rendering the 
exercise of its power equal, impartial, and beneficent, to all 
classes and conditions of mankind. — Sj^eeches in U. S. Senate, 
1850. 



^trmfs»!ou of Xctu SlabcJolm'nQ States. 

I SAID I would have voted for tlie admission of California 
even as a slave state, under the extraordinary circumstances 
which I have before distinctly described. I say that now ; but 
I say also, that before I would agree to admit any more states 
from Texas, the circumstanees which render such an act neces- 
sary must be shown, and must be such as to determine my obli- 
gation to do so ; and that is precisely what I insist can not be 
settled now. It must be left for those to whom the responsibility 
will belong. 

Mr. President, I understand, and I am happy in untlerstand- 
iiig, that I agree with the honorable senator from Massachusetts, 
that there is no obligation upon Congress to admit four new shave 
states out of Texas, but that Congress has reserved her right to 
sny whether those states shall be formed and admitted or not. 
I sliall rely on that reservation. I shall vote to admit no more 
slave states, unless under circumstances absolutely compulsory 
— and no such case is now foreseen. 

Mr. Webster. What I said was, that if the states hereafter 
to be made out of Texas choose to come in as slave states, they 
have a right so to do. 

Mr. Seward. My position is, that they have not a right to 
come in at all, if Congress rejects their institutions. The subdi- 



250 ■ SELECTIONS. 

vision of Texas is a matter optional with both parties, Texas and 
the United States. 

Mr, Webster. Does the honorable senator mean to say that 
Congress can hereafter decide whether they shall be slave or 
free states 1 

Mr. Seward. I mean to say that Congress can hereafter de- 
cide whether any states, slave or free, can be framed out of 
Texas. If they should never be framed out of Texas, they 
never could be admitted. 

Another objection arises ovt of the pri7iciple on ivhicJi the de- 
mand for compromise rests. That principle assumes a classifica- 
tion of the states as northern and southern states, as it is ex- 
pressed by the honorable senator from South Carolina [Mr. Cal- 
houn], but into slave states and fveQ states, as more directly ex- 
pressed by the honorable senator from Georgia [Mr. Berrien]. 
The argument is, that the states are severally equal, and that 
these two classes were equal at the first, and that the constitu- 
tion was founded on that equilibrium ; that the states being 
equal, and the classes of the states being equal in rights, they 
are to be regarded as constituting an association in which each 
state, and each of these classes of states, respectively, contribute 
in due proportions ; that the new territories are a common ac- 
quisition, and the people of these several states and classes of 
states, have an equal right to participate in them, respectively ; 
that the right of the people of the slave states to emigrate to 
the territories with their slaves as property is necessary to afford 
such a participation on their part, inasmuch as the people of the 
free states emigrate into the same territories with their property. 
And the argument deduces from this right the principle that, if 
Congress exclude slavery from any part of this new domain, it 
would be only just to set off a portion of the domain — some say 
south of 36° 30^ others south of 34° — which should be regarded 
at least as free to slavery, and to be organized into slave states. 

Argument ingenious and subtle, declamation earnest and bold, 
and persuasion gentle and winning as the voice of the turtle 
dove when it is heard in the land, all alike and all together have 
failed to convince me of the soundness of this principle of the 
proposed compromise, or of any one of the propositions on which 
it is attempted to be established. 



FREEDOM. 251 

How is the original equalitj'- of the states proved ? It rests 
on a syllogism of Vattel, as follows : All men are equal by the 
law of nature and of nations. But states are only lawful aggre- 
gations of individual men, who severally are equal. Therefore, 
states are equal in natural rights. All this is just and sound. 
But assuming the same premises, fo wit, that all men are equal 
by the laAv of nature and of nations, the right of property in 
slaves falls to the ground ; for one who is equal to another can 
not be the owner or property of that other. But you answer, 
that the constitution recognises property in slaves. It would 
be sufficient, then, to reply, that this constitutional recognition 
must be void, because it is repugnant to the law of nature and 
of nations. But I deny that the constitution recognises property 
in man. I submit, on the other hand, most respectfully, that 
the constitution not merely does not affirm that principle, but, 
on the contrary, altogether excludes it. 

The constitution does not expressly affirm anything on the 
subject ; ail that it contains is two incidental allusions lo slaves. 
These are, first, in the provision establishing a ratio of represen- 
tation and taxation ; and secondly, in the provision relating to 
fugitives from labor. In both cases, the constitution designedly 
.mentions slaves, not as slaves, much less as chattels, but as per- 
sons. That this recognition of them as persons was designed is 
historically known, and I think was never denied. I give only 
two of the manifold proofs. First, John Jay, in the Federalist, 
says : 

"Let the case of the slaves be considered, as it is in truth, a peculiar one. 
Let the compromising expedient of the constitution be mutually adop(fd 
which regards them as inhabitants, but as debased below the equal level 
of free inhabitants, which regards the slave as divested of two fifths of the 
man." 

Yes, sir, of two fifths, but of only two fifths ; leaving still 
three fifths ; leaving the slave still an inhahitant, a person, a 
living, breathing, moving, reasoning, immortal man. 

The other proof is from the debates in the conYention. It is 
brief, and I think instructive : — 

August 28, 1787. 

"Mr. Butler and Mr. Pinckney moved to require fugitive slaves and ser- 
vants to be delivered up like convicts. 



252 SELECTIONS. 

"Mr. Wilson, This would oblige the executive of the state to do it at 
public expense. 

"Mr. Sherman saw no more propriety in the public seizing and surren- 
dering a slave or a servant than a horse. 

"Mr. Butler withdrew his proposition, in order that some particular 
provision might be made, apart from this article." 

August 29, 11S1. 

"Mr. Butler moved to insert after article 15: 'If any person bound to 
service or labor in any of the United States shall escape into another state, 
he or she shall not be discharged from such service or labor in consequence 
of any regulation subsisting in the state to which they escape, but shall be 
delivered up to the person justly claiming their service or labor.'" 

"After the engrossment, September 15, })age 550, article 4, section 2, the 
third paragraph, the term 'legally' was struck out, and the words, 'under 
the laws thereof inserted after the word ' state,' in compliance with the 
wishes of some wlio thought the term 'legal' equivocal, and favoring the 
idea that slavery was legal in a moral vieia. — Madison Debates, pp. 48'7, 492. 

I deem it established, then, that tlie constitution does not rec- 
ognise property in man, but leaves that question, as between 
the states, to the law of nature and of nations. That law, as 
expounded by Vattel, is founded on the reason of things. Wlien 
God had created the earth, with its wonderful adaptations, be 
gave dominion over it to man, absolute human dominion. The 
title of that dominion, thus bestowed, would have been incom- 
plete, if the lord of all terrestrial things could himself have been 
the property of his fellow-man. 

The right to have a slave implies the right in some one to 7nake 
the slave; that right must be equal and mutual, and this would 
resolve society into a state of perpetual war. But if Ave grnnt 
the original equality of the states, and grant also the constitu- 
tional recognition of slaves as property, still the argument we 
are considering fails. Because the states are not parties to the 
constitution as states ; it is the constitution of the people of the 
United States. 

But even if the states continue under the constitution as states, 
they nevertheless surrendered their equality as states, and sub- 
mitted themselves to the sway of the numerical majority, with 
qualifications or checks; first, of the representation of three 
fifths of slaves in the ratio of representation and taxation ; and, 
secondly, of the equal representation of states in the senate. 



FREEDOM. 253 

The proposition of an establfslied classification of states as 
slave slates and free states, as insisted on by some, and into 
northern and southern, as maintained by others, seems to me 
purely imaginary, and of course tlie supposed equilibrium of 
those classes a mere conceit. This must be so, because, when 
the constitution was adopted, twelve of the thirteen states were 
slave states, and so there was no equilibrium. And so as to the 
classification of states as northern states and southern states. It 
is the maintenance of slavery by law in a state, not paralh.ds of 
latitude, that makes it a soutliern state ; and the absence of tliis, 
that makes it a northern state. And so all the states, save one, 
were southern states, and there was no equilibrium. But the 
constitution Avas made not only for southern and northern states, 
but for states neither northern nor southern, namely, the west- 
ern states, their coming in being foreseen and provided for. 

It needs little argument to show that the idea of a joint stock 
association, or a copartnership, as applicable even by its analo- 
gies to the United States, is erroneous, with all the consequen- 
ces fancifully deduced from it. The United States are a polit- 
ical state, or organized society, whose end is goAcrnment, for the 
security, welftire, and happiness, of all who live under its pro- 
tection. The theory I am combating reduces the objects of 
government to the mere spoils of conquest. Contrary to a the- 
ory so debasing, the preamble of the constitution not only 
asserts the sovereignty to be, not in the states, but in the peo- 
ple, but also promulgates the objects of the constitution : — 

"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect 
union, Qsi^^^\\s\\ justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for tlie common 
drfence, promote the general welfark, and secure the blessirigs of liberty, 
do ordain and establish this constitution." 

Objects sublime and benevolent ! They exclude the very 
idea of conquests, to be either divided among states or even. en- 
joyed by them, for the purpose of tecuring, not the blessings of 
liberty, but the evils of slavery. — Speech hi U. S. Senate, 1850. 



254 SELECTIONS. 



iEses of t])t Hational 33omain» 

It is true, indeed, that the national domain is ours. It is true 
it Avas acquired by the valor and with the wealth of the whole 
nation. But we hold, nevertheless, no arbitrary power over it. 
We hold no arbitrary power over anything, whether acquired 
lawfully or seized by usurpation. The constitution regulates 
our stewardship ; the constitution devotes the domain to union, 
to justice, to defence, to welfare, and to liberty. 

But there is a higher law than the constitution, which regu- 
lates our authority over the domain, and devotes it to the same 
noble purposes. The territory is a part, no inconsiderable part, 
of the common heritage of mankind, bestowed upon them by 
the Creator of the imiverse. We are his stewards, and must so 
discharge our trust as to secure in the highest attainable degree 
their happiness. How momentous that trust is, we may learn 
from the instructions of the founder of modern philosophy: — 

"K"o man," says Bacon, "can by care-taking, as the Scripture saith, add 
a cubit to his stature in this httle model of a man's body; but, in tlie great 
frame of kingdoms and commonwealths, it is in the power of princes or 
estates to add amplitude and greatness to their kingdom. For, by intro- 
ducing such ordinances, constitutions, and customs, as are wise, they may 
sow greatness to their posterity and successors. But these things are com- 
monly not observed, but left to take their chance." 

This is a state, and we are deliberating for it, just as our 
fathers deliberated in establishing the institutions we enjoy. 
Whatever superiority there is in our condition and hopes over 
those of any other " kingdom" or " estate," is due to the fortu- 
nate circumstance that our ancestors did not leave things to 
" take their chance," but that they " added amplitude and great- 
ness" to our commonwealth " by introducing such ordinances, 
constitutions, and customs, as were wise." We in our turn 
have succeeded to the same responsibilities, and we can not 
approach the duty before us wisely or justly, except we raise 
ourselves to the great consideration of how we can most cer- 
tainly " sow greatness to our posterity and successors." 

And now the simple, bold, and even awful question which 
presents itself to us is this : Shall we, who are founding insti- 
tutions, social and political, for countless millions — shall we, 



FREEDOM. 2i)0 

who know by experience the wise and the just, and are free to 
choose them, and to reject the erroneous and unjust — shall we 
establish human bondage, or permit it by our sufterance to be 
established ] Sir, our forefathers would not have hesitated an 
hour. They found slavery existing here, and they left it oidy 
because they could not remove it. There is not only no free 
state which would now establish it, but thele is no slave state 
which, if it had had the free alternative as wc now have, would 
have founded slavery. Indeed, our revolutionary predecessors 
had precisely the same question before them in establishing an 
organic law under which the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, 
Illinois, and Wisconsin, have since come into the Union, and 
they solemnly repudiated and excluded slavery from those states 
for ever. I confess that the most alanning evidence of our 
degeneracy which has yet been given is found in the fact that 
we even debate such a question. — Speech in U. S. Sejiafe, 1850. 

Slabcri) in iijt Xciu {Trvritovics. 

Sir, there is no Christian nation, thus free to choose as we 
are, which would establish slavery. I speak on due consid- 
eration, because Britain, France, and Mexico, have abolished 
slavery, and all other European states are preparing to abolish 
it as speedily as they can. We can not establish slavery, be- 
cause there are certain elements of the security, welfare, and 
greatness of nations, which we all admit, or ought to admit, and 
recognise as essential ; and these are, the security of natural 
rights, the diffusion of knowledge, and the freedom of industry. 
Slavery is incompatible with all of these ; and, just in proportion 
to the extent that it prevails and controls in any republican 
state, just to that extent it subverts the principle of democracy, 
and converts the state into an aristocracy or a despotism. I 
will not offend sensibilities by drawing my proofs from the slave 
states existing among ourselves; but I will draw them from the 
greatest of the European slave states. The population of Rus- 
sia in Europe, in 1844, Avas fifty-four millions, two hundred and 
fifty-one thousand. Of these, fifty-three millions and five hun- 
dred thousand were serfs, and the remaining seven hundred and 
fifty-one thousand, nobles, clergy, merchants, etc. 



256 SELECTIONS. 

The imperial government abandons tlie control over the fifty- 
three and a half millions to their owners ; and these owners, 
included in the seven hundred and fifty-one thousand, are thus 
a privileged class, or aristocracy. If ever the government inter- 
feres at all with the seifs, who are the only laboring population, 
it is by edicts designed to abridge their opportunities of educa- 
tion, and thus continue their debasement. What was the origin 
of this system 1 Conquest, in which the captivity of the con- 
quered was made perpetual and hereditary. This, it seems to 
me, is identical with American slavery, only at one and the 
same time exaggerated by the greater dispropoTtion between the 
privileged classes and the slaves in their respective numbers, 
and yet relieved of the unhappiest feature of American slavery, 
the distinction of castes. What but this renders Russia at once 
the most arbitrary despotism and the most barbarous state in 
Europe 1 And what is its effect, but industry comparatively 
profitless, and sedition, not occasional and partial, but chronic 
and pervading the empire. I speak of slavery not in the lan- 
guage of fancy, but in the language of philosophy. Montes- 
quieu remarked upon the proposition to introduce slavery into 
France, that the demand, for slavery was the demand of luxury 
and corruption, and not the demand of patriotism. Of all slavery, 
African slavery is the worst, for it combines practically the fea- 
tures of what is distinguished as real slavery, or serfdom, with 
the personal slavery knoAvn in the oriental world. Its domestic 
features lead to vice, while its political features render it inju- 
rious and dangerous to the state. 

I can not stop to debate long with those who maintain that 
slavery is itself practically economical and humane. I might 
be content with saying that there are some axioms in political 
science that a statesman or a founder of states may adopt, 
especially in the Congress of the United States, and that among 
those axioms are these : That all men are created equal, and 
have inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the choice of pur- 
suits of happiness ; that knowledge promotes virtue, and liglit- 
eousness exalteth a nation ; that freedom is preferable to slavery, 
and that democratic governments, where they can be maintained 
by acquiescence, without force, are preferable to institutions 
exercising arbitrary and irresponsible power. 



FREEDOM. 25T 

It remains only to remark that our own experience lias proved 
the dangerous influence and tendency of slavery. All our ap- 
prehensions of dangers, present and future, begin and end ^ith 
slavery. If slavery, limited as it yet is, now threatens to sub- 
vert the constitution, how can Ave, as wise and prudent states- 
men, enlarge its boundaries and increase its influence, and tlins 
increase already-impending dangers? Whether, then, I regard 
merely the welfare of tlie future inhabitants of tlie new terii lo- 
ries, or the security and welfare of the wlioh^ peojjlo of the 
United States, or the Avelfare of the whele family of mankind, 
I can not consent to introduce slavery into any part of this con- 
tinent which is now exempt from what seems to me so great an 
t\\\.— Speech in U. S. Senate, 1850. 

^j)pvfi)cnsicus of disunion ejvountilcssf. 

And this brings me to the great and all-absorbing argument 
that the Union is in danger of being dissolved, and that it can 
only be saved by compromise. I do not know what I would 
not do to save the Union • and therefore I shall bestow \ipon 
this subject a very deliberate consideration. 

I do not overlook the fact that the entire delegation from the 
slave states, although they differ in regard to the details of the 
compromise proposed, and perhaps in regard to the exact cir- 
cumstances of the crisis, seem to concur in this momentous warn- 
ing. Nor do I doubt at all the patriotic devotion to the Union 
which is expressed by those from whom this warning proceeds. 
And yet, sir, although such warnings have been uttered with 
impassioned solemnity in my hearing every day for near three 
months, my confidence in the Union remains unshaken, I think 
they are to be received with no inconsiderable distrust, because 
they are uttered under the influence of a controlling interest to 
be secured, a paramount object to be gained ; and that is an 
equilibrium of power in the republic. I think they are to be 
received with even more distrust, because, with the most pro- 
found respect, they are uttered under an obviously high excite- 
ment. Nor is that excitement an unnatural one. It is a law of 
our nature that the passions disturb the reason and judgment 
just in proportion to the importance of the occasion, and the 



258 SELECTIONS. 

consequent necessity for calmness and candor. I think they 
are to be distrusted, because there is a diversity of opinion in 
regard to the nature and operation of this excitement. The 
senators from some states say that it has brought all parties in 
their own region into unanimity. The honorable senator from 
Kentucky [Mr. Clay] says that the danger lies in the violence 
of partj^ spirit, and refers us for proof to the difficulties which 
attended the organization of the house of representatives. 

Sir, in my humble judgment, it is not the fierce conflict of 
parties that we are seeing and hearing ; but, on the contrary, it 
is the agony of distracted parties — a convulsion resulting from 
the too narrow foundations of both the great parties, and of all 
parties — foundations laid in compromises of natural justice and 
of human liberty. A question, a moral question, transcending 
the too narrow creeds of parties, has arisen ; the public con- 
science expands with it, and the green withes of party associa- 
tions give way and break, and fall off from it. Xo, sir ; it is not 
the state that is dying of the fever of party spirit. It is merely 
*a paralysis of parties, premonitory however of their restoration, 
with new elements of health and vigor to be imbibed from that 
spirit of the age which is so justly called Progress. 

Nor is the evil that of unlicensed, irregular, and turbulent fac- 
tion. We are told that twenty legislatures are in session, burn- 
ing like furnaces, heating and inflaming the popular passions. 
But these twenty legislatures are constitutional furnaces. They 
are performing their customary functions, imparting healthful 
heat and vitality while within their constitutional jurisdiction. 
If they rage beyond its limits, the popular passions of this coun- 
tiy are not at all, I think, in danger of being inflamed to excess. 
Ko, sir ; let none of these fires be extinguished. For ever let 
them burn and blaze. They are neither ominous meteors nor 
baleful comets, but planets ; and bright and intense as their heat 
may be, it is their native temperature, and they must still obey 
the law which, by attraction toward this solar centre, holds them 
in their spheres. 

I see nothing of that conflict between the southern and north- 
ern states, or between their representative bodies, which seems 
to be on all sides of me assumed. Not a word of menace, not a 
word of anger, not an intemperate word, has been uttered in 



FREEDOM. 259 

the northern legislatures. They firmly but calmly assert their 
convictions ; but at the same time tliey assert their unqualified 
consent to submit to the common arbiter, and for weal or wo 
abide the fortunes of the Union. 

What if there be less of moderation in the legislatures of the 
south ? It only indicates on which side the balance is inclining, 
and that the decision of the momentous question is near at hand. 
I agree with those Avho say that there can be no peaceful disso- 
lution — no dissolution of the Union by the secession of states; 
but that disunion, dissolution, happen when it may, will and 
must be revolution. I discover no omens of revolution. The 
predictions of the political astrologers do not agree as to the 
time or manner in which it is to occur. According to the author- 
ity of the honorable senator from Alabama [Mr. Clemens], the 
event has already happened, and the Union is now in niins. 
According to the honorable and distinguished senator from South 
Carolina [Mr. Calhoun], it is not to be immediate, but to l)e de- 
veloped by time. 

What are the omens to which our attention is directed ? I 
see nothing but a broad difference of opinion here, and the ex- 
citement consequent upon it. 

I have observed that revolutions which begin in the nalaco 
seldom go beyond the palace-walls, and they aflect only tlie 
dynasty which reigns there. This revolution, if I understand 
it, began in this senate-chamber a year ago, when the represen- 
tatives from the southern states assembled here and addressed 
their constituents on what were called the aggressions of the 
northern states. No revolution was designed at that time, and 
all that has happened since is the return to Congress of legisla- 
tive resolutions, which seem to me to be only conventional re- 
sponses to the address which emanated from the capltol. 

Sir, in any condition of society there can be no revolution 
w^ithout a cause, an adequate cause. AVhat cause exists here 1 
We are admitting a new state ; but there is nothing new in that ; 
we have already admitted seventeen before. But it is said that 
the slave states are in danger of losing political power by the 
admission of the nevr state. Well, sir, is there anything new in 
that 1 The slave states have always been losing political power, 
and they always will be while they have any to lose. At first, 



260 SELECTIONS. 

it 

twelve of the thirteen states were shave states ; now only fifteen 
out of the thirty are slave states. Moreover, the change is con- 
stitutionally made, and the government Avas constructed so as to 
permit changes of the balance of power, in obedience to changes 
of the forces of the body politic. Danton used to say, " It's all 
well while the people cry Danton and Robespierre ; but wo for 
me if ever the people learn to say, Robespierre and Danton !" 
That is all of it, sir. The people have been accustomed to say, 
" tlie South and the North ;" they are only beginning now to 
say, "■ the North and the South." 

Sir, those who woufd alarm us with the terrors of revolution 
have not well considered the structure of this government, and 
the organization of its forces. It is a democracy of property and 
persons, with a fair approximation toward universal education, 
and operating by means of universal suffrage. The constituent 
members of this democracy are the only persons who could sub- 
vert it ; and they are not the citizens of a metropolis like Paris, 
or of a region subjected to the influences of a metropolis, like 
France ; but they are husbandmen, dispersed over this broad 
land, on the mountain and on the plain, and on the prairie, from 
the ocean to the Rocky mountains, and from the great lakes to 
the gulf; and this people are now, while we are discussing their 
imaginary danger, at peace and in their happy homes, as un- 
concerned and uninformed of their peril as they are of events 
occurring in the moon. Nor have the alarmists made due allow-- 
ance in their calculations for the influence of conservative reac- 
tion, strong in any government, and irresistible in a rural repub- 
lic, operating by universal suffrage. That principle of reaction 
is due to the force of the habits of acquiescence and lo}^alty 
among the people. No man better understood this principle than 
Machiavelli, who has told us, in regard to factions, that " no 
safe reliance can be placed in the force of nature and the bravery 
o'f words, except it be corroborated by custom." Do the alarm- 
ists remember that this government has stood sixty years already 
without exacting one drop of blood 1 — that this government has 
stood sixty years, and yet treason is an obsolete crime 1 That 
day, I trust, is far off when the fountains of popular contentment 
shall be broken up ; but, whenever it shall come, it Avill bring 
forth a higher illustration than has ever yet been given f{ the 



FREEDOM. 261 

excellence of the democratic system ; for tlicn it will be seen 
how calmly, how firmly, how nobly, a great people can act in 
preserving their constitution, whom " love of country moveth, 
example teacheth, company comforteth, emulation quickeneth, 
and glory exalteth." 

When the founders of the new republic of the south come to 
draw over the face of this empire, along or between its parallels 
of latitude or longitude, their ominous lines of dismemljerment, 
soon to be broadly and deeply shaded with fraternal blood, tliey 
may come to the discovery then, if not before, that the natural 
and even the political connections of the region embraced foi-bid 
such a partition; that its possible divisions are not northern and 
southern at all, but eastern and western, Atlantic and Pacific ; 
and that nature and commerce have allied indissolubly for weal 
and wo the seceders and those from whom they are to be sepa- 
rated ; that while they would rush into a civil war to restore an 
imaginarj'^ ecjuilibrium betAveen the northern states and the south- 
ern states, a new equilibrium has taken its place, in Avhich all 
those states are on the one side, and the boundless west is on 
the other. 

Sir, when the founders of the republic of the south come to 
draw those fearful lines, they will indicate what portions of the 
continent are to be broken off from their connection with the 
Atlantic, through the St. Lawrence, the Hudson, the Delaware, 
the Potomac, and the Mississippi ; what portion of this people 
are to be denied the use of the lakes, the railroads, and the 
canals, now constituting common and customary avenues of travel, 
trade, and social intercourse ; what families and kindred are to 
be separated, and converted into enemies ; and what states are 
to be the scenes of perpetual border warfare, aggravated by in- 
terminable horrors of servile insurrection ] When those porten- 
tous lines shall be drawn, they will disclose what portion of this 
people is to retain the army and the navy, and the flag of so 
many victories ; and, on the other hand, what portion of the 
people is to be subjected to new and onerous imposts, direct 
taxes, and forced loans, and conscriptions, to maintain an oppo- 
sing army, an opposing navy, and the new and hateful banner 
of sedition. Then the projectors of the new republic of the south 
will meet the question — and they may well prepare now to an- 



262 SELECTIONS. 

swer it — What is all this for? What intolerable wrong, what 
unfraternal injustice, have rendered tliese calamities unavoida- 
ble ? What gain will this unnatural revolution bring to us 1 
The answer will be: All this is done to secure the institution of 
African slavery. 

And then, if not before, the question will be discussed. What 
is this institution of slavery, that it should cause these unparal- 
leled sacrifices and these disastrous afilictions ? And this Avill 
be the answer : When the Spaniards, few in number, discovered 
the western Indies and adjacent continental America, they need- 
ed labor to draw forth from its virgin stores some speedy return 
to the cupidity of the court and the bankers of Madrid. They 
enslaved the indolent, inoffensive, and confiding natives, who 
perished by thousands, and even by millions, under that new 
and unnatural bondage. A humane ecclesiastic advised the sub- 
stitution of Africans reduced to captivity in their native wars, 
and a pious princess adopted the suggestion, with a dispensation 
from the head of the church, granted on the ground of the pre- 
scriptive right of the Christian to enslave the heathen, to effect 
his conversion. The colonists of North America, innocent in 
their unconsciousness of wrong, encouraged the slave traffic, and 
thus the labor of subduing their territory devolved chiefly upon 
the African race. A happy conjuncture brought on an awaken- 
ing of the conscience of mankind to the injustice of slavery, 
simultaneously Avith the independence of the colonies. Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, 
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, welcomed and em- 
braced the spirit of universal emancipation. Renouncing lux- 
ury, they secured influence and empire. But the states of the 
south, misled by a new and profitable culture, elected to main- 
tain and perpetuate slavery ; and thus, choosing luxury, they 
lost power and empire. 

When this answer shall be given, it will appear that the ques- 
tion of dissolving the Union is a complex question ; that it em- 
braces the fearful issue whether the Union shall stand, and sla- 
very, under the steady, peaceful action of moral, social, and 
political causes, be removed by gradual, voluntary effort, and 
with compensation, or whether the Union shall be dissolved, and 
civil wars ensue, bringing on violent but complete and immediate 



FREEDOM. 263 

emancipation. We are now arrived at that stage of our national 
progress wlien that crisis can be foreseen, when we must foresee 
it. It is directly before lis. Its shadow is upon us. It darkens 
the legislative halls, the temples of worship, and the home and 
the hearth. Every question, political, civil, or ecclesiastical, 
however foreign to the subject of slavery, brings up shavery as 
an incident, and the incident supplants the principal question. 
We hear of nothing but slavery, and we can talk of nothing but 
slavery. And now, it seems to me that all our difficulties, em- 
barrassments, and dangers, arise, not out of unlawful perversions 
of the question of slavery, as some suppose, but from the Avant 
of moral courage to meet this question of emancipation as we 
ought. Consequently, we hear on one side demands — absurd, 
indeed, but yet unceasing — for an immediate and unconditional 
abolition of slavery — as if any ]DOAver, except the people of the 
slave states, could abolish it, and as if they could be moved to 
abolish it by merely sounding the triunpet loudly and proclaim- 
ing emancipation, while the institution is interwoven with aU 
their social and political interests, constitutions, and c^bcoms. 

On the other hand, our statesmen say that " slavery has 
always existed, and, for aught they know or can do, it always 
must exist. God permitted it, and he alone^can indicate the 
way to remove it." As if the Supreme Creator, after giving us 
the instructions of his providence and revelation for the illumi- 
nation of our minds and consciences, did not leave us in all hu- 
man transactions, with due invocations of his holy spirit, to seek 
out his will and execute it for ourselves. 

Here, then, is the point of my separation from both of these 
parties. I feel assured that slavery must give way, and will 
give way, to the salutary instructions of economy, and to the 
ripening influences of humanity ; that emancipation is inevitable, 
and is near ; that it may be hastened or hindered ; and that 
whether it shall be peaceful or violent, depends upon the ques- 
tion whether it be hastened or hindered ; that all measures which 
fortify slavery or extend it, tend to the consummation of vio- 
lence ; all that check its extension and abate its strength, tend 
to its peaceful extirpation. But I will adopt none but lawful, 
constitutional, and peaceful means, to secure even that end ; and 
none such can I or will I forego. Nor do I know any imp or- 



264 SELECTIONS. 

tant or responsible political body tliat proposes to do more than 
this. No free state claims to extend its legislation into a slave 
state. None claims that Congress shall usurp power to abolish 
slavery in the slave states. None claims that any violent, un- 
constitutional, or unlawful measure shall be embraced. And, on 
the other hand, if we offer no scheme or plan for the adoption 
of the slave states, with the assent and co-operation of Congress, 
it is only because the slave states are unwilling as yet to receive 
such suggestions, or even to entertain the question of emancipa- 
tion in any form. 

But, sir, I will take this occasion to say that, Avhile I can not 
agree with the honorable senator from Massachusetts in propo- 
sing to devote eighty millions of dollars to remove the free col- 
ored population from the slave states, and thus, as it appears to 
me, fortify slavery, there is no reasonable limit to which I am 
not willing to go in applying the national treasures to effect the 
peaceful, voluntary removal of slavery itself. 

I have thus endeavored to show that there is not now, and 
there is not likely to occur, any adequate cause for revolution in 
regard to slavery. But you reply that, nevertheless, you must 
have guaranties ; and the first one is for the surrender of fugitives 
from labor. That guaranty you can not have, as I have already 
shown, because you can not roll back the tide of social progress. 
You must be content with Avhat you have. If you wage war 
against us, you can, at most, only conquer us, and then all you 
can get will be a treaty, and that you have already. 

I do not say that there may not be disturbance, though I do 
not apprehend even that. Absolute regularity and order in ad- 
ministration have not yet been established in any government, 
and unbroken popular tranquillity has not yet been attained in 
even the most advanced condition of human society. The ma- 
chinery of our system is necessarily complex. A pivot may drop 
out here, a lever may be displaced there, a wheel may fall out 
of gearing elsewhere, but the machinery Avill soon recover its 
regularity, and move on just as before, with even better adapta- 
tion and adjustment to overcome new obstructions. 

There are many well-disposed persons who are alarmed at the 
occun-ence of any such disturbance. The failure of a legislative 



FREEDOM. 265 

body to organize is to their apprelieiision ;i fc.-n-ful omen, nnrl an 
extra-constitutional assemblage to consult npon public affairs is 
with til em cause for desperation. Even senators speak of the 
Union as if it existed only by consent, and, as it seems to be 
implied, by the assent of the legislatures of the states. On the 
contrary, the Union was not founded in voluntary choice, nor 
does it exist by voluntary consent. 

A union was proposed to the colonies by Franklin and others, 
in 1754 ; but such was their aversion to an abridgment of their 
own importance, respectively, that it was rejected even under 
the pressure of a disastrous invasion by France. 

A iniion of choice was proposed to the colonies in 1775 ; but 
so strong was their opposition, that they Avent through the war 
of independence without having established more than a mere 
council of consultation. 

But with independence came enlarged interests of agriculture 
— absolutely new interests of manufactures — interests of com- 
merce, of fisheries, of navigation, of a common domain, of com- 
mon debts, of common revenues and taxation, of the admin- 
istration of justice, of public defence, of public honor ; in 
short, interests of common nationality and sovereignty — inter- 
ests which at last compelled the adoption of a more perfect 
union — a national government. 

The genius, talents, and learning of Hamilton, of Jay, and of 
Madison, surpassing perhaps the intellectual power ever exerted 
before for the establishment of a government, combined with the 
serene but mighty influence of Washington, were only sufficient 
to secure the reluctant adoption of the constitution that is now 
the object of all our affections and of the hopes of mankind. No 
wonder that the conflicts in which that constitution Avas bom, and 
the almost desponding solemnity of Washington, in his farewell 
address, impressed his countrymen and mankind with a profound 
distrust of its perpetuity ! No wonder that while the murmurs 
of that day are yet ringing in our ears, we cherish that distrust, 
with pious reverence, as a national and patriotic sentiment ! 

But it is time to prevent the abuses of that sentiment. It is 
time to shake off that fear, for fear is always weakness. It is 
time to remember that government, even when it arises by 
chance or accident, and is administered capriciously and oppres- 

J2 



' 266 SELECTIONS. 

sively, is ever tlie strongest of all liiiman institutions, siu'viving 
many social and ecclesiastical changes and convulsions: and 
that this constitution of ours has all the inherent streng-th com- 
mon to governments in general, and added to them has also the 
solidity and finiiness derived from broader and deeper founda- 
tions in national justice, and a better civil adaptation to promote 
the Avelfare and happiness of mankind. 

The Union, the creature of necessities — physical, moral, so- 
cial, and political — endures by virtue of the same necessities; 
and these necessities are stronger than when it was produced — 
stronger by the greater amplitude of territory now covered by 
it — stronger by the sixfold increase of the society living under its 
beneficent protection — stronger by the augmentation ten thou- 
sand times of the fields, the workshops, the mines, and the ships, 
of that society ; of its productions of the sea, of the plow, of the 
loom, and of the anvil, in their constant circle of internal and 
international exchange — stronger in the long rivers penetrating 
regions before unknown — stronger in all the artificial roads, 
canals, and other channels and avenues essential not only to 
trade but to defence — stronger in steam navigation, in steam 
locomotion on the land, and in telegraph communications, un- 
known when the constitution was adopted — stronger in the 
freedom and in the growing empire of the seas ■'—stronger in the 
element of national honor in all lands, and stronger than all in 
the now settled habits of veneration and affection for institutions 
so stupendous and so useful. 

The Union, then, is, not because merely that men choose that 
it shall be, but because some government must exist here, «ind 
no other government than this can. If it could be dashed to 
atoms by the whirlwind, the lightning, or the earthquake, to- 
day, it would rise again in all its just and magnificent propor- 
tions to-morrow. This nation is a globe, still accumulating upon 
accumulation — not a dissolving sphere. 

I have heard somewhat here, and almost for the first time in 
my life, of divided allegiance — of allegiance to the South and 
to tlie Union — of allegiance to states severally and to the 
Union. Sir, if sympathies with state emulation and pride of 
achievement could be allowed to raise up another sovereign to 
divide the allegiance of a citizen of the United States, I might 



FREEDOM. 267 

recognise the claims of the state to which, by birth antl gratitude, 
I belong — to the state of Hamilton and Jay, of Schuyler, of 
the Clintons, and of Fulton — the state which, with less than 
two hundred miles of natural navigation connected witli the 
ocean, has, by her own enterprise, secured to herself the com- 
merce of the continent, and is steadily advancing to the com- 
mand of the commerce of the world. But for all this, I know 
only one country and one sovereign — the United States of 
America and the American people. And such as my allegiance 
is, is the loyalty of every other citizen of the United States. 
As I speak, he will speak when his time arrives. He knows no 
other country and no other sovereign. He has life, liberty, 
property, and precious aifections, and hopes for himself and for 
his posterity, treasured up in the ark of the Union. He knows 
as well and feels as strongly as I do, that this government is his 
own government ; that he is a part of it ; that it was established 
for him, and that it is maintained by him ; that it is the only 
truly wise, just, free, and equal government, that has ever 
existed ; that no other government could be so wise, just, free, 
and equal ; and that it is safer and more beneficent than any 
which time or change could bring into its place. 

You may tell me, sir, that although all this may be true, still 
the trial of faction has not yet been made. Sir, if the trial of fac- 
tion has not been made, it has not been because fjiction has not 
always existed, and has not always menaced a trial, but because 
faction could find no fulcrum on which to place the lever to sub- 
vert the Union, as it can find no fulcrum now ; and in this is my 
confidence. I would not rashly provoke the trial : but I will 
not sufi'er a fear, which I have not, to make me compromise one 
sentiment, one principle of truth or justice, to avert a danger 
that all experience teaches me is purely chimerical. Let, then, 
those who distrust the Union make compromises to save it. I 
shall not impeach their wisdom, as I certainly can not their 
patriotism ; but, indulging no such apprehensions myself, I shall 
vote for the admission of California directly, without conditions, 
without qualifications, and without compromise. 

For the vindication of that vote, I look not to the verdict of 
the passing hour, disturbed as the public mind now is by con- 
flicting interests and passions, but to that period, happily not 



268 SBCECTIONS. 

far distant, when the vast regions over which we are now legis- 
lating shall have received their destined inhabitants. 

While looking forward to that day, its countless generations 
seem to me to be rising up and passing in dim and shadowy- 
review before us ; and a voice comes forth from their serried 
ranks, saying : •' Waste your treasures and your armies, if you 
will ; raze your fortifications to the ground ; sink your navies into 
the sea; transmit to us even a dishonored name, if you must; 
but the soil you hold in trust for us — give it to us free. You 
found it free and conquered it to extend a better and surer free- 
dom over it. Whatever choice you have made for yourselves, 
let us have no partial freedom ; let us all be free ; let the rever- 
sion of your broad domain descend to us unencumbered, and free 
from the calamities and from the sorrows of human bondage." — 
Speech in U. S. Senate, 1850. 

Slabcro. 

Property and possession, in common speech, are predicated 
as incidents belonging to the relation of master and slave ; but 
the terms are inaccurate, without foundation in laAv, and essen- 
tially false The institution of slavery accustoms us to 

confound the broadest distinctions in nature, not less than to 
subvert the plainest principles of justice. The right of indi- 
vidual property is derived from the consent of the Creator. 
When he had finished a world, and filled it with bounties, he 
gave to the last being created to inhabit, and the only one 
capable of governing it, DOMINION, or the right of property, and 
that dominion was universal ; and yet man Avas excepted from 
it. The right of dominion by man over Inert matter and irra- 
tional beings could not be complete, If one man could be made 
the property of another man, or could be reduced into his pos- 
session. Happily, God has deprived us of the power to abridge 
this great dominion in such a way, by making the mind, the 
soul, the heart, the affections of every man, more truly inde- 
pendent of all human power than the subtlest and most elastic 
substance unendowed with life 

A great diversity of opinion exists in the United States, con- 
cerning the proper construction of the constitution of the United 



FREEDOM. 2(59 

States, in relation to slavery. ^Some receive it as a gospel of 
universal emancipation, and others as a covenant of perpetual 
toleration of slavery. Those avIio maintain the latter opinion 
fortify themselves with arguments derived from the condition of 
the country and the spirit of the times when the constitution 
was established. It seems to me that trutli is found on hoth 
sides of the controversy. The constitution of the United States, 
in its general scope and spirit, recognises the absolute natural 
rig-lits of mankind, and it contemplates an ultimate condition of 
perfect democratic liberty and equality. On the other hand, it 
contains provisions (adopted doubtlessly by way of compromise) 
which have served but too well to fortify an institution whose 
existence nearly all reflecting and candid men deplore. Slavery 
is only the negation or privation of that liberty which is the birth- 
right of all men. It results from an ascendency of physical force 
which always obtains in rude communities, and never finally 
disappears in any state, until intellectual and moral agencies are 
fully developed. Let slavery receive Avhat name or form it may, 
it is ahvays the same — subjection of the weak to the strong. 
The progress of our race is so slow, that liberty never all at 
once achieves an absolute triumph, and every advantage gained 
is followed by reaction. Thus African slavery, unjust as it is 
conceded to be, long as it has endured, and long as it may be 
yet destined to endure, is only the reaction of the principle of 
physical force by which it has compensated itself for the loss of 
feudal villeinage, in the sixteenth century in western Europe. 
So the emancipation of Europe seems to have mysteriously 
drn,wn after it the desecration of a new continent, with a darker, 
more degrading, and severer system of oppression. Labor was 
needed to reclaim, suddenly, a wide domain from the sover- 
eignty of Nature. Voluntary labor stood upon terms too high 
for contract, and therefore physical force sought and subjugated 
involuntary labor. Slavery, wherever found, was not created 
by law, but obtained its establishment by evasion or subversion 
of law. It spread at an early period throughout Virginia, 
although the charter secured to all whom the colonial corpora- 
tion should lead thither " all the liberties, francliises, and immu- 
nities of free denizens, and natural subjects within any of the 
British dominions, to all intents and purposes, as if they had 



270 SELECTIONS. 

been abiding at home, witliin the reahn of England, or in 
others of his majesty's dominions."* Slavery was thus ex- 
cluded by royal inliibition from the territory now included 
within the state of Kentucky, and yet it took root and flour- 
ished in defiance of law, until it overshadoAved the state. The 
cause of human liberty, however baffled, never rests, and in 
the eighteenth century it had borrowed new vigor from phi- 
losophy and the diffusion of Christianity. The movement for the 
abolition of slavery, which now excites so much apprehension in 
portions of our country, is by no means as modem as those who 
think it can be suppressed suppose. It began in a meeting of 
Friends, in London, in 1727, and proceeded so slowly that it did 
not expel the institution from the British dominions until after 
the lapse of one hundred and seven years. Fifty-six years 
were spent before the abolitionists could obtain a reading in the 
British parliament of a petition for the suppression of the slave- 
trade, and that trade was not finally abolished within what were 
the British colonies on this continent until 1807. The agitation 
of abolition in England reached and sensibly affected the col- 
onies previously to the Revolution, and the Declaration of 
American Independence bears memorable testimony of the high 
tone which the American mind had then assumed. Tlie repre- 
sentatives who assumed to pronounce, in 1776, a separation of 
this country from the parent state, were so dee])ly imbued with 
the sentiment of abolition, that they confided the task of pre- 
paring the immortal declaration to John Adams, an obstinate 
hater of slavery, and Thomas Jefferson, a young, enthusiastic, 
and open abolitionist. But emancipation was destined, in its turn, 
to suffer reaction. — Argument^ U. S. Supreme Court, Dec, 1847. 

2ri)c .Slabcr^ ®,ucsti3ii can nrbrr l)c srcttkG fti) Coinpvomises. 

Still it is replied that tlie slavery question must be settled. 
That question can not be settled by this bill. Slavery and free- 
dom are conflicting systems, brought together by the union of 
the states, not neutralized, nor even harmonized. Their antag- 
onism is radical, and therefore perpetual. Compromise contin- 
ues conflict, and the conflict involves, unavoidably, all questions 
* Charter of Virginia, % James IT., 1609, Littell's Laws of Ky., vol. i., p. IL 



FREEDOM. 271 

of national interest — questions of revenue, of internal improve- 
ment, of industry, of commerce, of political rivalry, and even all 
questions of peace and of war. In enterinf^ the career of con- 
quest, you have kindled to a fiercer heat the fires you seek to 
extinguish, because you have thrown into them the fuel of 
propagandism. We have the propagandism of slavery to en- 
large the slave-market, and to increase slave representation in 
Congress and in the electoral colleges — for the bramljle ever 
seeks power, though the olive, the fig-, and the vine, refuse it ; 
and we have the propagandism of freedom to counteract those 
purposes. Kor can this propagandism be arrested on either 
side. The sea is full of exiles, and they swarm over our land. 
Emigration from Europe and from Asia, from Polynesia even, 
from the free states and from the slave states, goes on, and will 
go on, and must go on, in obedience to laws which, I should say, 
were higher than the constitution, if any such laws were ac- 
knoAYledged here. And I may be allowed here to refer those 
who have been scandalized by the allusion to such laws to a 
single passage by an author whose opinions did not err on the 
side of superstition or of tyranny : — 

"If it be said that every nation ouglit in this to follow their own consti- 
tutions, we are at an end of our controversies; for they ought not to be 
followed, unless they are rightly made; they can not be rightly made if 
they are contrary to the universal law of God and nature." — Discourses on 
Government, by Algernon Sidnei/. 

You may slay the Wilmot proviso in the senate-chamber, and 
bury it beneath the capitol to-day ; the dead corse, in complete 
steel, will haimt your legislative halls to-morrow. 

When the strife is ended in the territories you now possess, it 
will be renewed on new fields, north as well as south, to fortify 
advantages gained, or to retrieve losses incurred, for both of the 
parties Avell know that there is " Yet, in that word Hereafter." 

This compromise is rendered doubly dangerous by the circum- 
stance that it is a concession to alarms of disorganization and 
faction. Such concessions, once begun, follow each other with 
-fearful rapidity and always increasing magnitude. It is time, 
high time, that panics about the Union should cease ; that it 
should be known and felt that the constitution and the Union, 
within the limits of human security, are safe, firm, and perpetual. 



272 SELECTIONS. 

Settle what you can settle ; confide in that old arbitei-, Time, 
for his favoring aid in settling fer the future what belongs to the 
future, and you Avill hereafter be relieved of two classes of pa- 
triots whose labors can well be spared — those who clamor for 
disunion, either to abolish slavery or to prevent emancipation, 
and those who surrender principles or sound policy to clamors 
so idle. 

Sir, the agitations which alarm us are not signs of evils to 
come, but mild efforts of the coinmonwealth for relief from mis- 
chiefs past. 

There is a way, and one way only, to put them at rest. Let 
us go back to the ground where our forefathers stood. While 
we leave slavery to the care of the states where it exists, let us 
inflexibly direct the policy of the federal government to circum- 
scribe its limits and favor its ultimate extinguishment. Let 
those who have this misfortune entailed upon them, instead of 
contriving how to maintain an equilibrium that never had exist- 
ence, consider carefully how at some time — it may be ten, or 
twenty, or even fifty years hence — by some means, by all 
means of their own, and with our aid, without sudden change or 
violent action — they may bring about the emancipation of labor 
and its restoration to its just dignity and power in the state. 
Let them take hope to themselves, give hope to the free states, 
awaken hope throughout the Avorld. They will thus anticipate 
only what must happen at some time, and v/hat they themselves 
must desire if it can come safely, and as soon as it can come 
without danger. Let them do only thi^, and every cause of 
disagreement will cease immediately and for ever. We shall 
then not merely endure each other, but we shall be reconciled 
together, and shall realize once more the concord which results 
from mutual league, united councils, and equal hopes and haz- 
ards in the most sublime and beneficent enterprise the earth has 
witnessed. The fingers of the Powers above would tune the 
harmony of such a peace. — Sjyecck in U. S. Senate, July 2, 1850. 



FREEDOM. 273 



^ooeratfon. 



The cause of emancipation lias now reached an interesting 
crisis. The sentiment of justice to the African race has at length 
become a political element too important to be overlookefl or 
disregarded by either of the great political parties. The expe- 
diency of practical emancipation is directly discussed in one slave 
state and thousands are prepared for it in other states where the 
institution has seemed impregnable. Its advocates fail to con- 
vince the people that it is a humane, or a necessary, or even a 
harmless anomaly in our constitution. Nevertheless popular 
action is checked by alarms concerning the threatened dangers 
of emancipation, civil wars, and dissolution of the Union. We 
live in an age when the specific hifluences of Christianity are 
widely diffused, and we shrink from prosecuting even the most 
benevolent designs if they seem to involve the calamities of war. 
If we analyze the national passion of patriotism, Ave shall find it 
to consist chiefly in veneration for the constitution, and devot'on 
to the uiTion of the states. 

The seeming indifference of the people concerning the guilt 
and danger of slavery has been so irksome to the impetuous 
that many who have been esteemed wise and patriotic citizens, 
have come to treat of disunion, as if it were preferable to further 
forbearance, or w^ere in some way involved in the success of 
abolition. I trust that such sentiments will be discarded. What- 
ever hopes may be indulged by those who permit themselves to 
speculate concerning secession or nullification, we have enjoyed 
more abounding national prosperity, more perfect political and 
social equality, and more precious civil and religious liberty, by, 
through, and with our present constitution, than Avere ever be- 
fore secured by any people. We can liot know what portion 
of these blessings would be lost by dissolving the present fabric 
and constructing another or others in its place. Heaven forbid 
that we should even contemplate the experiment ! 

Prudence in regard to the cause of emancipation forbids the 
indulgence of a thought of disunion. If it be so confessedly dif- 
ficult to awaken the national conscience, while the patriotism of 
abohtionists can not be justly questioned, it would be ruinous to 
• - 12* 



274 SELECTIONS. 

suffer so noble an enterprise to be at all connected with designs 
wbieb, however they may be excused or palliated, must never- 
theless be seditious and treasonable. 

I grant that the annexation of Texas, through the failure of 
concert among the opponents of slavery, vastly increases the 
difficulty of emancipation. But still I trust that if that great 
enterprise be conducted with discretion, it Avill advance faster 
than the population and political influence of the new territory. 
The slaveholders have enlarged the domain of our country. Let 
this untoward event only excite us the more. Let us rouse our- 
selves to the necessary effort, and enlarge indeed the " area of 
freedom." 

Men differ much in temperament and susceptibility, and are 
so variously situated, that they receive from the same causes 
very unequal impressions. It is not in human nature that all 
who desire the abolition of slavery should be inflamed with equal 
zeal ; and different degrees of fervor produce different opinions 
concerning the measure proper to be adopted. Great caution is 
necessary, therefore, to preserve mutual confidence and harmony. 
No cause, however just, can flourish without these. Christian 
Europe lost the Holy Sepulchre, which had cost so many sacri- 
fices, less by the bravery of the Saracens, than by the mutual 
controversies of the Crusaders. The protestant reformation was 
arrested two hundred years ago, by the distraction of the reform- 
ers, and not a furlong's breadth has since been gained from the 
papal hierarchy. 

I am far from denying that any class of abolitionists has done 
much good for their common cause, but I think the whole result 
has been much diminished by the angry conflicts between them, 
often on mere metaphysical questions. I sincerely hope that 
these conflicts may now cease. Emancipation is now a poHtical 
enterprise, to be effected through the consent and action of the 
American people. They will lend no countenance or favor to 
any other than lawful and constitutional means. Nor is the 
range of our efforts narrowly circumscribed by the constitution. 

In many of the free states there is a large mass of citizens 
disfranchised on the ground of color. They must be invested 
with the right of suffrage. Give them this right, and their in- 
fluence will be immediately felt in the national councils, and it 



FREEDOM. 275 

is neeclless to say will be cast in favor of those who uphold the 
cause of human liberty. We must resist unceasingly the admis- 
sion of slave states, and urge aud demand the abolition of sla- 
very in the District of Columbia. We have secured the right 
of petition, but the federal government continues to be swerved 
by the influences of slavery as before. This tendency can and 
must be counteracted ; and when one independent Congress 
shall have been elected, the internal slave-trade will be subject- 
ed to inquiry. Amendments to the constitution may be initiated, 
and the obstacles in the way of emancipation will no longer ap- 
pear insurmountable. 

But, gentlemen, I fear I may appear to dogmatize when I 
intended only to invoke concession. If I seem to do so too ear- 
nestly, it is because I feel so deeply interested in the cause to 
which your efforts are devoted, and because I believe with Burke, 
that " we ought to act in political affairs with all the moderation 
which does not absolutely enervate that vigor, and quench that 
fervency of spirit, without which the best wishes for the public 
good must evaporate in empty speculation." — Letter to Hon. 
S. P. Chase and Others of Ohio, May, 1845. ^ 



COMMERCE 



iPutlic iFaitl). 

No reason for rejecting these claims* remains, except that 
they have not been paid heretofore. But mere lapse of time 
pays no debts, and discharges no obligations. There has been 
no release, no waiver, no neglect, no delay, by the creditors. 
They have been here twenty-five times in fifty years ; that is 
to say, they have appeared in their successive generations, be- 
fore every Congress since their claims against the United States 
accrued. Against such claims and such creditors there is no 
prescription. 

It is said, indeed, that the nation is unable to pay these claims 
now. I put a single question in reply : When will the nation 
be more affluent than now 1 

The senator [Mr. Hunter] says, again, that, if the debts are 
just, we should pay the whole, and not a moiety ; and that if 
the claims are unjust, then the bill proposes a gratuity — that in 
the one case the appropriation is too small, and in the other too 
great. This is the plea of him who, I think it was in Ephesus, 
despoiled the statue of Jupiter of its golden robe, saying, " Gobi 
Avas too warm in summer, and too cold in winter, for the shoul- 
ders of the god." 

Sir, commerce is one of the great occupations of this nation. 
It is the fountain of its revenues, as it is the chief agent of its 
advancement in civilization and enlargement of empire. It is 
exclusively the care of the federal authorities. It is for the pro- 
tection of commerce that they pass laAvs, make treaties, build 
* For French Spoliationa 



COMMERCE. 277 

fuitiiications, niul inalntam navies upon all the seas. But justice 
and g-ood faith are surer defeiices than treaties, fortifications, or 
naval armaments. Justice and good faith constitute true national 
honor, which feels a stain more keenly than a wound. The na- 
tion that lives in wealth and in the enjoyment of power, and 
yet under unpaid obligations, dwells in dishonor and in danger. 
The nation that would be truly great, or even merely safe, must 
practise an austere and self-denying morality. 

The faith of canonized ancestors, whose fame now belongs to 
mankind, is pledged to the payment of these debts. ** Let the 
merchants send hitlier well-authenticated evidences of their 
claims, and proper measures shall be taken for their relief." 
This was the promise of AVashington. The evidence is here. Let 
us redeem the sacred and venerable engagement. Through his 
sagacity and virtue, we have inherited with it ample and abun- 
dant resources, and to them we ourselves have added the newly- 
discovered wealth of southern plains, and the hidden treasures of 
the western coast. With the opening of the half century, we are 
entering upon new and profitable intercourse with the ancient 
oriental states and races, while we are grappling more closely 
to us the new states on our own continent. Let us signalize an 
ep )ch so important in commerce and politics, by justly dischar- 
ging ourselves for ever from the yet remaining' obligations of the 
first and most sacred of all our national engagements. While 
we are growing over all lands, let us be rigorously just to other 
nations, just to the several states, and just to every class and to 
every citizen ; in short, just in all our administration, and just 
toward all mankind. So shall prosperity crown all our enter- 
prises — nor shall any disturbance within nor danger from abroad 
come nigh unto us, nor alarm us for the safety of fireside, or fane, 
or capitol. — Speech on French Spoliation Bill in U. S. Senate, 
January, 21, 1851. 

American Hnterprisc, 

Come, then, senators, and suppose that you stand with me in 
the galleries of St. Stephen's chapel, on a day so long gone by 
as the 22d of March, 1775. A mighty debate has been going 
on here in this august legislature of the British empire. Insur- 



2 I 8 SELECTIONS, 

rection against commercial restriction has broken out in tlie dis- 
tant American colonies ; a seditious assembly in Philadelphia 
has organized it ; and a brave, patient, unimpassioned, and not 
untried soldier of Virginia, lies, with hastily-gathered and irreg- 
ular levies, on the heights of Dorchester, waiting the coming out 
of the British army from Boston. The question whether Great 
Britain shall strike, or concede and conciliate, has just been de- 
bated and decided. Concession has been denied. A silence, 
brief but intense, is broken by the often fierce and violent, but 
now measured and solemn utterance of Burke : " My counsel 
has been rejected. You have determined to trample upon and 
extinguish a people who have, in the course of a single life, 
added to England as much as she had acquired by a progressive 
increase of improvement, brought on, by varieties of civilizing 
conquests and civilizing settlements, in a series of seventeen 
hundred years. A vision has passed before my eyes ; the spirit 
of prophecy is upon me. Listen, now, to a revelation of the con- 
sequences which shall follow your maddened decision. Hence- 
forth, there shall be division, separation, and eternal conflict in 
alternating war and peace between you and the child you have 
oppressed, which has inherited all your indomitable love of lib- 
erty and all your insatiable passion for power. Though still 
in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood, 
America will, within the short period of sixteen months, cast off 
your dominion and defy your utmost persecution. Perfecting the 
institutions you have not yet suffered to ripen, she will establish 
a republic, the first confederate representative commonwealth, 
which shall in time become the admiration and envy of the world. 
France, the hereditary rival whom, only twenty years ago, with 
the aid of your own colonies, you despoiled of her North Ameri- 
can possessions, though they had been strengthened by the 
genius of Richelieu, will take sweet revenge in aiding the eman- 
cipation of those very colonies, and thus dismembering your 
empire. You will strike her in vain with one hand, while you 
stretch forth the other to reduce your colonies with equal dis- 
comfiture. And you, even you, most infatuated yet most loyal 
prince, will within eight years sign a treaty of peace with the 
royal Bourbon, and of independence with republican America ! 
With fraud, corruption, fire and sword, you will compensate 



COMMERCE. 279 

England with conquests in the East, and within half a century 
they will surround the world, and the British flag shall wave 
over provinces covering five millions of square miles, and con- 
taining one sixth of the people of the globe. Nor shall you lose 
your retaliation upon your ancient enemy ; for she, in the mean- 
time, imbibing and intoxicated by the spirit of revolution in her 
American affiliation, shall overthrow all authority, human and 
divine, and, exhausting herself by twenty-five years of caniage 
and desolation throughout continental Europe^ shall at last suc- 
cumb to your victorious arms, and relapse, after ineffectual 
straggles, into the embraces of an inglorious military despotism. 
Yet, notwithstanding all these unsurpassed conquests and tri- 
umphs, shall you enjoy no certain or complete dominion. For, 
on the other hand, wild beasts and savage men and uncouth 
manners shall all disappear on the American continent ; and the 
three millions whom you now despise, gathering to themselves 
increase from every European nation and island, will, within 
seventy-five years, spread themselves over field and forest, 
prairie and mountain, until, in your way to your provinces in the 
Bahamas, they shall meet you on the shores of the gulf of Mex- 
ico, and on your return from the eastern Indies, they will salute 
you from the eastern coast of the Pacific ocean. In the mean- 
time, Avith genius developed by the influence of freedom, and 
with vigor called forth and disciplined in the subjugation of the 
forest, and trained and perfected in the mysteries of ship-build- 
ing and navigation, by the hardy exercise of the whale fisheries 
under either pole, they will, in all European conflicts, with keen 
sagacity, assume the relation of neutrals, and thus grasp the 
prize of Atlantic commerce dropped into their hands by fierce 
belligerents. In the midst of your studies and experiments in 
hydraulics, steam, and electricity, they will seize the unpractised 
and even incomplete inventions, and cover their rivers with 
steamboats, and connect and bind together their widely-separa- 
ted territories Avith canals, railroads, and telegraphs. When a 
long interval of peace shall have come, your merchants, combi- 
ning a vast capital, will regain and hold for a time the carrying 
trade, by substituting capacious, buoyant, and fleet packet-ships- 
departing and arriving with exact punctuality; but the Ameri- 
cans, quickly borrowing the device, and improving on your 



280 SELECTIONS. 

skill, will reconquer their commerce. You will then rouse nil the 
enterprise of your merchants, and all the spirit of your govern- 
ment, and wresting the new and mighty power of steam from the 
hands of your inveterate rival, will Apply it to ocean navigation, 
and laying hold of the commercial and social cerrespondence 
between the two continents, increasing as the nations rise to 
higher civiHzation and come into more close and intimate rela- 
tions, as the basis of postal revenue, you will thus restore your 
lost monopoly on the Atlantic, and ^njoy it unmolested through 
a period of ten years. During that season of triumph, you will 
mature and perfect all the arrangements for extending tliis 
mighty device of power and revenue, so as to connect every 
•island of the seas and every part of every continent with your 
capital. But just at that moment, your emulous rival will ap- 
pear with steamships still more capacious, buoyant and fleet, 
than your own, in your harbors, and at once subverting your 
Atlantic monopoly, will give earnest of her vigorous renewal of 
the endless contest for supremacy of all the seas. When you 
think her expelled from the ocean, her flag will be seen in your 
ports, covering her charities contributed to relieve your popula- 
tion, stricken by famine ; and while you stand hesitating whether 
to declare between republicanism and absolute power in conti- 
nental Europe, her embassadors will be seen waiting on every 
battle-field to salute the triumphs of liberty ; and when that 
cause shall be overthrown, the same constant flag shall be seen 
even in the straits of the Dardanelles, receiving with ovations 
due to conquerors the temporarily overthrown champions of free- 
dom. Look toward Africa ! there you see American colonies 
lifting her up from her long night of barbarism into the broad 
light of liberty and civilization. Look to the East, you see 
American missionaries bringing the people of the Sandwich 
islands into the family of nations, and American armaments 
peacefully seeking yet firmly demanding the rights of humanity 
in Japan. Look to the equator, there are American engineers 
opening passages by canals and railroads across the isthmus 
which divides the two oceans. And last of all, look northward, 
and you behold American sailors penetrating the continent of ice 
in search of your own daring and lost navigators." 

Sir, this stupendous vision has become real. All this moment- 



COMMERCE. 281 

ons propliecy has come to pass. The man yet lives who lias 
seen both the end and the beginning of its fulfilment. It is his- 
tory. And that history shows that this enterprise of American 
Atlantic steam navigation was Avisely and even necessarily un- 
dertaken, to maintain our present commercial independence, and 
the contest for the ultimate empire of the ocean. Only a word 
shall express the importance of these objects. Intemational 
postal communication and foreign commerce are as important as 
domestic mails and traffic. Equality with other nations in re- 
spect to those interests is as important as freedom from restiic- 
tion upon them among ourselves. Except Rome — which sub- 
stituted conquest and spoliation for commerce — no nation Avas 
ever highly prosperous, really great, or even truly independent, 
whose foreign communications and traffic were conducted by 
other states; w^hile Tyre, and Egypt, and Venice, and the 
Netherlands, and Great Britain, successively becoming the mer- 
chants, became thereby the masters of the Avorld. 

I conjure you to consider, moreover, that England, without 
waiting for, and, I am sure, without expecting, so inglorious a 
retreat on our part, is completing a vast web of ocean steam 
navigation, based on postage and commerce, that will connect all 
the European ports, all our own ports, all the South American 
ports, all the ports in the West Indies, all the ports of Asia and 
Oceanica, with her great commercial capital. Thus the world 
is to become a great commercial system, ramified by a thousand 
nerves projecting from the one head at London. Yet, stupen- 
dous as the scheme is, our own merchants, conscious of equal 
capacity and equal resources, and relying on experience for suc- 
cess, stand here beseeching us to allow them to counteract its 
fulfilment, and ask of us facilities and aid equal to those yielded 
by the British government to its citizens. While our commer- 
cial history is full of presages of a successful competition, Great 
Britain is sunk deep in debt. We are free from debt. Great 
Britain is oppressed with armies and costly aristocratic institu- 
tions ; industry among us is unfettered and free. But it is a 
contest depending not on armies, nor even on wealth, but chiefly 
on invention and industry. And how stands the national ac- 
count in those respects ] The cotton-gin, the planing-machine. 



282 SELECTIONS. 

steam navigation, and electrical communication — these are old 
achievements. England onlj a year ago invited the nations to 
bring their inventions and compare them together in a palace of 
h'on and glass. In all the devices for the increase of luxury and 
mdulgence, America was surpassed, not only by refined England 
and by chivalrous France, but even by semi-barbarian E,ussi;u 
Not until after all the mortification which such a result necessa- 
rily produced, did the comparison of utilitarian inventions begin. 
Then our countrymen exhibited Dick's anti-friction press — a 
machine that moved a power greater by two hundred and forty 
tons than could be raised by the Brama hydraulic press, which, 
having been used by Sir John Stevenson in erecting the tubu- 
lar bridge over the straits of Menai, had been brought forward 
by the British artisans as a contrivance of unrivalled merit for 
the generation of direct power. Next Avas submitted, on our 
behalf, the two inventions of St. John, the variation compass, 
which indicates the deflection of its own needle at any place, 
resulting from local causes ; and the velocimeter, which tells, 
at nny time, the actual speed of the vessel bearing it, and 
its distance from the port of departure — inventions adopted 
at once by the admiralty of Great Britain. Then, to say noth- 
ing of the higeniously-constructed locks exhibited by Hobbs 
which defied the skill of the British artisans, while he opened 
all of theirs at pleasure, there was Bigelow's power-loom, 
v/hich has brought down ingrain and Brussels carpets within 
the reach of the British mechanic and farmer. While the 
American ploughs took precedence of all others, M'Cormick's 
rea|>er was acknowledged to be a contribution to the agriculture 
of England, surpassing in value the cost of the Crystal Palace. 
Nor were we dishonored in the fine arts, for a well-deserved meed 
was awarded to Hughes for his successful incorporation in mar- 
ble of the ideal of Oliver Twist ; and the palm was conferred on 
Powers for his immortal statue of the Greek Slave. TV hen 
these successes had turned away the tide of derision from our 
country, the yacht America entered the Thames. Skilful ar- 
chitects saw that she combined, in before unknown proportions, 
the elements of grace and motion, and her modest challenge was 
reluctantly accepted, and even then only for a tenth part of the 
prize she proposed. The trial was graced by the presence of 



CO.MMRIICE. 283 

the queen and lier court, and watched \\ itli ;in Interest created 
by national pride and ambition, and yet the trinm})h was com- 
plete. 

In the very hour of this, of itself, conclusive demonstration of 
American superiority in utilitarian inventions, and in the art 
" that leads to nautical dominion," a further and irresistible con- 
iirmation was given by the arrival of American eh})])ers from 
India, freighted at advanced rates with shipments, consigned by 
the agents of the East India company at Calcntta to their own 
warehouses in London. Such and so recent are the proofs, that 
in the capital element of invention we are equal to the contest 
for the supremacy of the seas. When I consider them, and 
consider our resources, of which those of Pennsylvania, or of the 
valley of the Mississippi, or of California, alone exceed the entire 
native wealth of Great Britain ; when I consider, moreoA-er, our 
yet unelicited manufacturing capacity — our great population, 
already nearly equal to that of the British Islands, and multi- 
plying at a rate unknown in human progress by accessions from 
both of the old continents ; wlien I consider the advantages of- 
our geographical position, midway between them ; and when 
I consider, above all, the expanding and elevating influence of 
freedom upon the genius of our people, I feel quite assured that 
their enterprise will be adequate to the glorious conflict, if it 
shall be only sustained by constancy and perseverance on the 
part of their government. I do not know that we shall prevail 
in that conflict ; but for myself, like tlie modest hero who was 
instructed to charge on tlie artillery at Niagara, I can say that 
we " Avill try ;" and that when a ditticulty occurs no greater than 
that which meets us now, my motto shall be the words of the 
dying commander of the Chesapeake — "Don't give up tlie 
sl^Ip." — Speech on A??ierican Steavi Navigatim, i?i Senate, April 
27, 1852. 

a:!)e JKH/Mjale ffis])tvitB. 

Mr. President : Some years ago, when ascending the Ala- 
bama, I saAv a stag plunge into the river, and gallantly gain the 
western bank, while the desponding sportsman whose rifle he 
had escaped, sat down to mourn his ill luck under the deep mag- 



284 SELECTIONS. 

iiolia forest that sliadecl the eastern shore. Yon,* sir, are a 
dweller in that region, and are, as all the world knoAvs, a gen- 
tleman of cnltivated taste and liberal fortunes. Perhaps then, 
you may have been that unfortunate hunter. Howsoever that 
may have been, I wish to converse with you now of the chase, 
and yet not of deer, or hawk, or hound, but of a chase upon the 
seas ; and still not of angling or trolling, nor of the busy toil of 
those worthy fishermen who seem likely to embroil us, certainly 
without reluctance on our part, in a controversy abput their 
rights in the Bay of Fundy ; but of a nobler sport, and more 
adventurous sportsmen than Izaak Walton, or Daniel Boone, or 
even Nimrod, the mightiest as well as most ancient of hunters, 
ever dreamed of — the chase of the whale over his broad range 
of the universal ocean. 

Do not hastily pronounce the subject out of order or unprofit- 
able, or unworthy of this high presence. The Phoenicians, the 
earliest mercantile nation known to us, enriched themselves by 
selling the celebrated Tyrian dye, and glass made of sand taken 
from the sea ; and they acquired not only those sources of wealth 
but the art of navigation itself, in the practice of their humble 
calling as fishermen. A thousand years ago. King Alfred was 
laying the foundations of empire for Young England, as we are 
now doing for Young America. The monarch whom men have 
justly surnamed the Wise as well as the Great, did not disdain 
to listen to Octlier, who related the adventures of a voyage along 
the coast of Norway, " so far north as commonly the whale hunt- 
ers used to travel;" nor was the stranger suffered to depart 
until he had submitted to the king " a most just survey and de- 
scription"' of the northern seas, not only as they extended up- 
ward to the North cape, but also as they declined downAvard 
along the southeast coast of Lapland, and so following the icy 
beach of Russia to where the river Dwina discharged its waters 
into the White sea, or, as it was then called, the sea of Archan- 
gel. Perhaps my poor speech may end in some similar lesson. 
The incident I have related is the burden of the earliest histor- 
ical notice of the subjugation of the monster of the seas to the 
uses of man. The fishery was carried on then, and near six 
hundred years afterward, by the Basques, Biscayans, and Nor- 
* Hon. W. R. King. 



COMMERCE. 285 

wcgians, for the food yielded by the tongue, and tlie oil obtained 
from the fat of the animal. Whalebone entered into commerce 
in the fifteenth century, and at first commanded the enormous 
price of seven hundred pounds sterling- per ton, exceeding a 
value in this age of ten thousand dollars. Those were meiTy 
times, if not for science, at least for royalty, Avhen, although the 
material for stays and hoops was taken from the moutli, the law 
appropriated the tail of every whale taken by an Enghsli sub- 
ject to the use of the queen, for the supply of the royal ward- 
robe 

Mr. President, I have tried to win the favor of the senate 
toward the national Avhale-fishery for a purpose. The whales 
have found a new retreat in the seas of Ochotsk and Anadir, 
south of Bhering straits, and in that part of the Arctic ocean 
lying north of them. In 1848, Captain Roys, in the whale- 
ship Superior, passed through those seas and through the straits, 
braving the perils of an unknown way and an inhospitable cli- 
mate. He filled his ship in a few weeks, and the news of his 
success went abroad,. In 1849, a fleet of one hundred and 
fifty-four sail went up to this new fishing-ground ; in 1850, a 
fleet of one hundred and forty-four ; and in 1851, a fleet of one 
hundred and forty-five. The vessels are manned with thirty 
persons each ; and their value, including that of the average 
annual cargoes procured there, is equal to nine millions — and 
thus exceeds by near two millions the highest annual import 
from China. But these fleets arc beset by not only sucli dan- 
gers of their calling as customarily occur on well-explored fish- 
ing grounds, but also by the multiplied dangers of shipwreck 
resulting from the want of accurate topographical knowledge — 
the only charts of those seas being imperfect and unsatisfactory. 
While many and deplorable losses were sustained by the fleets 
of lS49-'50, we have already information of' the loss of eleven 
vessels, one thirteenth part of the whole fleet of 1851, many of 
which disasters might have been avoided had there been charts 
accurately indicating the shoals and headlands, and also places 
of sheltered anchorage near them. These facts are represented 
to us by the merchants, ship-owners, and underwriters, and are 
confirmed by Lieutenant Maury, who presides in this depart- 
ment of science in the navy, as well as in the labors and studies 



286 SELECTIONS. 

of the national observatory. We want, then, not bounties nor 
protection, nor even an accurate survey, but simply an explora- 
tion and recomioissance of those seas, which have so recently 
become the theatre of profitable adventure and brave achieve- 
ment by our whale-hunters. This service can be performed 
by officers and crews now belonging to the navy, in two or 
three vessels which already belong or may be added to it, 
and would continue, at most, only throughout two or three 
years. Happily, the measure involves nothing new, untried, 
or uncommon. To say nothing of our recent search for the 
lamented Sir John Franklin, nor of our great exploring expedi- 
tion under Captain Wilkes, Ave are already engaged in triangu- 
lating a coast survey of the Atlantic shore. Charts, light-houses, 
and beacons, shoAv the pilot his way, not only over that ocean 
and among its islands, but along all our rivers, and even upon 
our inland lakes. The absence of similar guides and beacons in 
the waters now in question, results from the fact that the Pacific 
coast has but recently fallen under our sway, and Behring's 
straits and the seas they connect have not until now been fre- 
quently navigated by the seamen of any nation. Certainly 
somebody must do this service. But who will 1 The Avhalers 
can not. No foreign nation will, for none is interested. The 
constitutional power and responsibility rest with the federal 
government, and its means are adequate. — Speech in U. S. 
Senate, July 29, 1852. 

(KTommerce on t]bc iSacific. 

Who does not see that every year, hereafter, European com- 
merce, European politics, European thoughts, and European 
activity, although actually gaining greater force — and European 
connections, although actually becoming more intimate — will, 
nevertheless, relatively sink in importance ; while the Pacific 
ocean, its shores, its islands, and the vast regions beyond, will 
become the chief theatre of events in the world's great hereaf- 
ter ? Who does not see that this movement must effect our own 
complete emancipation from what remains of European influence 
and prejudice, and in turn develop the American opinion and 
influence which shall remould constitutions, laws, and customs, 



COMMERCE. 287 

in tlie land that is first greeted by the rising sun 1 Sir, altliongh 
I am no socialist, no dreamer of a suddenly-coming millennium, 
I nevertheless can not reject the hope that peace is now to have 
her sway, and that as war has hitherto defaced and saddened 
the Atlantic world, the better passions of mankind will soon 
have their development in the new theatre of human activity. 

Commerce is the great agent of this movement. Whatever 
nation shall put that commerce into full employment, and shall 
conduct it steadily with adequate expansion, will become neces- 
sarily the greatest of existing states ; greater than any that has 
ever existed. Sir, you will claim that responsibility and that 
high destiny for our own country. Are you so sure that by 
assuming the one she will gain the other ? They imply noth- 
ing less than universal commerce and the supremacy of the 
seas. "VYe are second to England, indeed ; but, nevertheless, 
how far are we not behind her in commerce and in extent of 
empire ! I pray to know where you will go that you will not 
meet the flag of England fixed, planted, rooted into the very 
earth 1 If you go northward, it Avaves over half of this con- 
tinent of North America, which w^e- call our own. If you go 
southward, it greets you on the Bermudas, the Bahamas, and 
the Oaribbee islands. On the Falkland islands it guards the 
straits of Magellan ; on the South Shetland island it watches 
the passage round the Horn ; and at Adelaide island it warns 
you that you have reached the Antarctic circle. When you 
ascend along the southwestern coast of America, it is seen at 
Galopagos, overlooking the isthmus of Panama ; and, having 
saluted it there and at Vancouver, you only take leave of it in 
the far northwest, "when you are entering the Ai'ctic ocean. If 
you visit Africa, you find the same victorious cross guarding the 
coast of Gambia and Sierra Leone and St. Helena. It watches 
you at Capetown as you pass into the Indian ocean ; while on 
the northern passage to that vast sea it demands your recog- 
nition from Gibraltar, as you enter the Mediterranean ; from 
Malta, when you pass through the Sicilian straits ; on the Ionian 
islands it waves in protection of Turkey ; and at Aden it guards 
the passage from the Red sea into the Indian ocean. AVherever 
western commerce has gained an entrance to the continent of 
Asia, there that flag is seen waving over subjugated milhons — 



288 SELECTIONS. 

at Bombay, at Ceylon, at Singapore, at Calcutta, at Lahore, 
and at Hong-Kong ; M^liile Australia and nearly all the islands 
of Polynesia acknowledge its protection. 

Sir, I need not tell you that wherever that flag waves, it is 
supported and cheered by the martial airs of England. But I 
care not for that.- The sword is not the most winning messen- 
ger that can be sent abroad ; and commerce, like power, upheld 
by armies and navies, may in time be found to cost too much. 
But what is to be regarded with more concern is, that England 
employs the steam-engine even more vigorously and more uni- 
versally than her military force. Steam-engines, punctually de- 
parting and arriving between every one of her various possessions 
and her island-seat of power, brhig in the raw material for every 
manufacture and supplies for every want. The steam-engine plies 
incessantly there day and night, converting these materials into 
fabrics of every variety, for the use of man. And again the steam- 
engine for ever and without rest moves over the face of the 
deep, not only distributing these fabrics to every part of the globe, 
but disseminating also the thoughts, the principles, the language, 
and religion of England. Sii", we are bold indeed to dare com- 
petition with such a power. Nevertheless, the resources for it 
are adequate. We have coal and iron no less than she, while 
corn, timber, cattle, hemp, wodi, cotton, silk, oil, sugar, and the 
grape, quicksilver, lead, copper, silver, and gold, are all found 
within our own broad domain in inexhaustible profusion. What 
energies we have already expended, prove that we have in 
reserve all that are needful. What inventions we have made, 
prove our equality to any exigency. Our capital increases, 
while labor scarcely knows the burden of taxation. Our Panama 
route to China has a decided advantage over that of the isthmus 
of Suez, and, at the same time, vessels leaving that country and 
coming round the Horn will reach New York, always, at least 
five days sooner than vessels of equal speed can double the 
cape of Good Hope, and make the port of Liverpool. 

Mr, President, we now see how conspicuous a part in the 
great movement of the age California and Oregon are to sus- 
tain, and that, as yet, they are separated from us and isolated. 
Tiiey will adhere to us only so long as our government over 
them shall be conducted, not for our benefit, but for their own. 



COMMERCE. 289 

Their loyalty is great, but it can not exceed that of the tliirtccn 
ancient American colonies to Great Britain ; and yet the neglect 
and oppression of their commerce undermined that loyalty, and 
resulted in their independence. I hear often of dangers to the 
Union, and see lines of threatened separation drawn by pas- 
sionate men or alarmists, on parallels of latitude ; but, in my 
judgment, there is only one danger of severance — and that is 
involved in the possibility of criminal neglect of the new com- 
munities on the Pacific coast, while the summits of the Rocky 
mountains, and of the Snowy mountains, mark the only possible 
line of dismembei-ment. Against that danger I would guard as 
against the worst calamity that could befall, not only my coun- 
try, at her most auspicious stage of progress, but mankind also, 
in the hour of their brightest hopes. I would guard against it 
by practising impartial justice toward the new and remote states 
and territories, whose political power is small, while their wants 
are great, and by pursuing at the same time, with liberality and 
constancy, the lofty course which they indicate, of an aspiring 
yet generous and humane national ambition. — Speech in. U. S. 
Senate, July 29, 1852. 

^ €:outtncntal i^nilroaU to tl)e iSacific (Dccan. — £ts Commercial 
Slti^Dantaacs. 

You want first and most, a communication which shall bind 
New Orleans, and Washington, and New York, on the Atlantic, 
with San Francisco, on the Pacific. The safety of your country, 
the safety of its Pacific posessions, demands such a communica- 
tion — not over oceans exposed to all nations, and through a for- 
eign territory occupied by a discontented, aggrieved, and prob- 
ably hostile people, but inland, and altogether through your own 
country. You want, for your own use, for your own commerce, 
and for the commerce of Asia, a road which shall have the ad- 
vantage of the best Atlantic and Pacific harbors which can 
be obtained, with one continuous connection by land, so that 
there shall be no necessity for reshipment between the Atlantic 
and Pacific ports — not a way between ports yet to be artificially 
made, on the Caribbean sea, and on the Pacific coast, witli chan- 
ges from land to water-carriage requiring breaking of bulk at 
least twice in the course of transit. 

13 



290 SELECTIONS. 

If you aim to erect a high commercial structure, you must lay 
your foundations broadly in agriculture, in mining, and manu- 
facture ; and all these Avithin your own domain ; and use the 
resources which God and nature have given to you, and not those 
which Providence has bestowed upon your neighbors. And you 
want, for the same reason, a passage across the continent, of 
your own, not shared with any foreign domain. If you will 
be the carriers of Europe and of Asia, if you will be the carriers 
in even your own interoceanic commerce, you must receive, you 
must convey, you must deliver merchandise, within your own 
temperate zone," not within that torrid zone whose heats are 
noxious to animal and vegetable productions, and, while so del- 
eterious to the articles most abundant and most essential to the 
subsistence of man, pestilential also to human life itself. This 
is the communication across this continent which you want 
— Speech in U. S. Senate, Feb. 8, 1853. 



MISCELLANEOUS 



Orf)0 ^ntetfcan 33eo|)lc— SJeir ^oral anti intellectual Bcbrlopmrnt. 

A KL\D of reverence is paid by all nations to antiquity. Tliere 
is no one that does not trace its lineage from the gods, or from 
those who were especially favored by the gods. Eveiy people 
has had its age of gold, or Augustan age, or heroic age — an age, 
alas ! for ever passed. These prejudices are not altogether un- 
wholesome. Although they produce a conviction of declining 
virtue, which is unfavorable to generous emulation, yet a people 
at once ignorant and iiTeverential would necessaiily become 
licentious. Nevertheless, such prejudices ought to be modified. 
It is untrue, that in the period of a nation's rise from disorder to 
refinement, it is not able to continually surpass itself We see 
the present plainly, distinctly, with all its coarse outlines, its 
rough inequalities, its dark blots, and its glaring deformities. 
We hear all its tumultuous sounds and jarring discords. We 
see and hear the past, through a distance which reduces all its 
inequalities to a plane, mellows all its shades into a pleasing hue, 
and subdues even its hoarsest voices into harmony. In our own 
case, the prejudice is less erroneous than in most others. The 
revolutionary age was tmly a heroic one. Its exigencies called 
forth the genius and the talents and the virtues of society, and 
they ripened amid the hardships of a long and severe trial. But 
tliere were selfishness, and vice, and factions, then, as now, al- 
though comparatively subdued and repressed. You have only 
to consult impartial history, to learn that neither public faith, 
nor public loyalty, nor private virtue, ciUmiuated at that period 



292 SELECTIONS. 

in our own country,* while a mere glance at the literature, or 
at the stage, or at the politics, of any European country, in any 
previous age, reveals the fact that it was marked, more distinctly 
than the present, by licentious morals and mean ambition. 

Reasoning a priori again, as we did in another case, it is only 
just to infer in favor of the United States an improvement 
of morals from their established progress in knoAvledge and pow- 
er; otherwise, the philosophy of society is misunderstood, and 
we must change all our courses, and henceforth seek safety in 
imbecility, and virtue in superstition and ignorance. 

What shall be the test of the national morals ? Shall it be 
the eccentricity of crimes ? Certainly not ; for then we must 
compare the ciiminal eccentricity of to-day with that of yester- 
day. The result of the comparison would be only this, that the 
crimes of society change with changing circumstances. 

Loyalty to the state is a public virtue. Was it ever deeper- 
toned or more universal than it is now 1 I know there are 
ebullitions of passion and discontent, sometimes breaking out 
into disorder and violence ; but was faction ever more effectually 
disarmed and harmless than it is now ? There is a loyalty that 
springs from the affection that we bear to our native soil. This 
we have as strong as any people. But it is not the soil alone, 
nor yet the soil beneath our feet and the skies over our heads, 
that constitute our country. It is its freedom, equality, justice, 
greatness, and glory. Who among us is so low as to be insensi- 
ble of an interest in them 1 Four hundred thousand natives of 
other lands every year voluntarily renounce their own sovereigns, 
and swear fealty to our own. Who has ever known an Ameri- 
can to transfer his allegiance permanently to a foreign power ? 

The spirit of the laws, in any country, is a true index to the 
morals of a people, just in proportion to the power they exercise 

* "I ought not to object to your reverence for your fathers, as you call 
them, meaning, I presume, the government, and those concerned in the di- 
rection of public affairs; much less could I be displeased at your numbering 
me among them. But, to tell you a very great secret, as far as I am capa- 
ble of comparing the merits of different periods, I have no reason to believe 
that we were better than you are. We had as many poor creatures and 
selfish beings in proportion, among us, as you have among you ; nor were 
there then more enlightened men, or in greater number in proportion, 
than there are now." — John Adams's Letter to Josiah Qiiincy, Feb. 9, 1811. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 2\^:\ 

in making tliem. Wlio complains, here or elsewlioro, that crimo 
or immorality blots our statute-books with licentious enact inputs ? 

The character of a country's maj^istrates, leg;isIators, and cap- 
tains, chosen by a people, reflect their own. It is true that in 
the earnest canvassing which so frequently rccumng elections 
require, suspicion often follows the magistrate, and scandal fol- 
lows in the footsteps of the statesman. Yet, when his course 
has been finished, what magistrate has left a name tarnished by 
corruption, or what statesman has left an act or an opinion so 
erroneous that decent charity can not excuse, though it may di.s- 
approve ? What chieftain ever tempered military triumph with 
so much moderation as he who, when he had placed our stand- 
ard on the battlements of the capital of Mexico, not only received 
an offer of supreme authority from the conquered nation, hut 
declined it ] 

The manners of a nation are the outward form of its inner 
life. Where is woman held in so cliivalrous respect, anrl where 
does she deserve that eminence better ? Where is property 
more safe, commercial honor better sustained, or liunian life 
more sacred 1 

Moderation is a virtue in private and in public life. Has not 
the great increase of private wealth manifested itself chiefly in 
widening the circle of education and elevating the standard of 
popular intelligence ? With forces which, if combined and di- 
rected by ambition, would subjugate this continent at once, we 
have made only two very short wars — the one confessedly a 
war of defence, and the other ended by paying for a i>eace and 
for a domain already fully conquered. 

Where lies the secret of the increase of virtue which has thus 
been established ? I think it will be found in the entire eman- 
cipation of the consciences of men from cither direct or indirect 
control by established ecclesiastical or political systems. Reli- 
gious classes, like political parties, have been left to compete in 
the great work of moral education, and t.» entitle themselves to 
the confidence and affection of society, by the purit^- «>r t1.«'ir 
faith and of their morals. 

I am Avell aware that some, who may he willing to ;i' .'j't ti.e 
general conclusions of this argument, will obje<-t that it is not 
altogether sustained by the action of the government itsrlf, how- 



294 SELECTIONS. 

ever true it may be that it is sustained by the great action of 
society. I can not enter a field -where tnith is to be sought 
among the disputations of passion and prejudice. I may say, 
however, in reply first, that the governments of the United States, 
altliough more perfect than any other, and although they em- 
brace the great ideas of the age more fully than any other, are, 
nevertheless, like all other governments, founded on compro- 
mises of some abstract truths and of some natural rights. 

As government is impressed by its constitution, so it must 
necessaril}^ act. This may suffice to explain the phenomenon 
complained of. But it is true, also, that no government ever 
did altogether act out, purely and for a long period, all the vir- 
tues of its original constitution. Hence it is that we are so well 
told by Bolingbroke, that every nation must perpetually renew 
its constitution or perish. Hence, moreover, it is a great excel- 
lence of our system, that sovereignty resides, not in Congress 
and the president, nor j^et in the governments of the states, but 
in the people of the United States. If tlie sovereign be just 
and firm and uncorrupted, the governments can always be 
brought back from any aberrations, and even the constitutions 
themselves, if in any degree imperfect, can be amended. This 
great idea of the sovereignty of the people over their govern- 
ment glimmers in the British system, while it fills our own with 
a broad and glowing light. 

"Let not your king and parliament in one, 
Much less apart, mistake themselves for that 
Which is most worthy to be thought upon, 
Nor think they are essentially the State. 
Let them not fancy that the authority 
And privileges on them bestowed, 
Conferred, are to set up a majesty. 
Or a power or a glory of their own; 
But let them know it was for a deeper life 
Which they but represent ; 
That there's on earth a yet auguster thing, 
Veil'd though it be, than parliament or king." 

Gentlemen, you are devoted to the pursuit of knowledge in 
order that you may impart it to the state. What Fenelon was 
to France, you may be to your country. Before you teA,ch, let 
me enjoin upon you to study well the capacity and the disposi- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 295 

tion of the American people. I have tried to prove to you only 
that while they inherit the imperfections of humanity tlioy are 
yet youthful, apt, vigorous, and virtuous, and therefore, that 
they are wortli}^ and will make noble uses of your best instruc- 
tions. — Address, Yah College, New Haven, July 2^, 1S54. 

5:nsan{tn. 

What is the human mind ? It is immaterial, spiritual, im- 
mortal ; an emanation of the Divine Intelligence, and if the 
frame in which it dwells had preserved its just and natural pro- 
portions, and perfect adaptation, it would be a pure and heavenly 
existence. But that frame is marred and disordered in its best 
estate. The spirit has communication Avith the world without, 
and acquires imperfect knowledge only through the half-opened 
gates of the senses. If, froon original defects, or from accidental 
causes, the structure be such as to cramp or restrain the mind, 
it becomes or appears to be weak, diseased, vicious, and wicked. 
I know one who was born without sight, without hearing, and 
without speech, retaining the faculties of feeling and smell. 
That child was, and would have continued to be an idiot, incapa- 
ble of receiving or communicating thoughts, feelings or affections ; 
but tenderness unexampled, and skill and assiduity, unparalleled, 
have opened avenues to the benighted mind of Laura Bridgman, 
and developed it into a perfect and complete human spint, con- 
sciously allied to all its kindred, and aspiring to Heaven. Such 
is the mind of every idiot, and of every lunatic, if you can only 
open the gates, and restore the avenues of the senses ; and such 
is the human soul when deranged and disordered by disease, 
imprisoned, confounded, benighted. That disease is insanity. 

Doth not the idiot eat ? Doth not the idiot drink ? Doth not 
the idiot know his father and his mother ? He does all this be- 
cause he is a man. Doth he not smile and weep ? Do you think 
he smiles and Aveeps for notliing ? He smiles and weeps because 
he is moved by human joys and sorrows, and exercises his reason, 
however imperfectly. Hath not the idiot anger, rage, revenge ? 
Take from him his food, and he will stamp his feet and throw his 
chains in your face. Do you think he doth tliis for nothing] 
He does it all because he is a man, and because, however iraper- 



296 SELIXTIONS. 

fectly, lie exercises Iiis reason. The lunatic does all tin's, and, 
if not quite demented, all things else that man, in the highest 
pride of intellect does or can do. He only does them in a dif- 
ferent way. You may pass laws for his government. Will he 
conform 1 Can he conform 1 What cares he for your laws ? 
He will not even plead ; he can not plead his disease in excuse. 
Yo2i must interpose the plea for him, and if you allow it, he, 
when redeemed from his mental bondage, will plead for you 
when he shall return to your Judge and his. If you deny his 
plea, he goes all the sooner, freed from imperfection, and with 
energies restored, into the presence of that Judge. You must 
meet him there, and then, no longer bewildered, stricken and 
dumb, he will have become as perfect, clear and bright, as those 
who reviled him in his degradation, and triumphed in his ruin. 

And now what is insanity 1 Many learned men have defined 
it for us, but I prefer to convey my idea of it in the simplest 
manner. Insanity is a disease of the body, and I doubt not of 
the brain. The world is astonished to find it so. They thought 
for almost six thousand years that it was an affection of the mind 
only. Is it strange that the discovery should have been made 
so late 1 You know that it is easier to move a burden upon two 
smooth rails on a level- surface, than over the rugged ground. 
It has taken almost six thousand years to learn that. But mor- 
alists argue that insanity shall not be admitted as a physical dis- 
ease, because it would tend to exempt the sufferer from respon- 
sibility, and because it would expose society to danger. But 
who shall know, better than the Almighty, the ways of human 
safety, and the bounds of human responsibility ? 

And is it strange that the brain should be diseased ? What 
organ, member, bone, muscle, sinew, vessel, or nerve, is not sub- 
ject to disease ? What is physical man, but a frail, perishing 
body, that begins to decay as soon as it begins to exist 1 What 
is there of animal existence here on earth exempt from disease 
and decay 1 Nothing. The Avorld is full of disease and that 
is the great agent of change, renovation, and health. 

And what wrong or error can there be in supposing that the 
mind may be so affected by disease of the body as to relieve 
man from responsibility 1 You will answer, it would not be safe. 
But who has assured you of safety ? Is not the way of life 



MISCELLANEOUS. 207 

through dangers lurking on every side, and thougli you escape 
ten thousand perils, must you not fall at last ? Human life is 
not safe, nor intended to be safe, against the elements. Neither 
is it safe, nor intended to be safe, against the moral elements of 
man's nature. It is not safe against pestilence, nor against war, 
against the thunderbolts of heaven, nor against tlie blow of the 
maniac. But comparative safety can be secured, if you will be 
wise. You can guard against war, if you will cultivate peace. 
You can guard against the lightning, if you will learn the laws of 
electricity, and raise the protecting rod. You will be safe against 
the maniac, if you will watch the causes of madness, and remove 
them. Yet after all, there will be danger enough from all these 
causes to remind you that on earth you are not immortal. 

Although my definition would not perhaps be strictly accurate 
I should pronounce insanity to be a derangement of the mind, 
character, and conduct, resulting from bodily disease. I take 
this word derangement, because it is one in common everj^-day 
use. We all understand what is meant when it is said that any- 
thing is ranged or arranged. The houses on a street are ranted, 
if built upon a straight line. The fences on your farms are 
ranged. A single object too may be ranged. A tower, if justly 
built, is ranged ; that is, it is ranged by the plummet. It rises 
in a perpendicular range from the earth. A file of men march- 
ing in a straight line are in range. " Range yourselves, men," 
though not exactly artistical, is not an uncommon word of com- 
mand. Now what do we mean when we use the word " ^/<?rang- 
ed" ? Manifestly that a thing is not ranged, is not arranged, is 
out of range. If the houses on the street be built irregularly, 
they are deranged. If the walls be inclined to the right or 
left, they are deranged. If there be an unequal pressure on 
either side, the tower will lean, that is, it will be deranged. If 
the file of men become irregular, the line will be deranged. So 
if a man is insane. There was a regular line which he was pur- 
suing ; not the same line which you or I follow, for all men pur- 
sue different lines, and every sane man has his own peculiar 
path. All these paths are straight, and all are ranged, though 
all divergent. It is easy enough to discover when tho street, 
the wall, the tower, or the martial procession, is deranged. But 
it is quite another thing to determine when the course of an in- 

13* 



298 SELECTIONS. 

dividual life lias become deranged. We deal not then with geo- 
metrical or material lines, but with an imaginary line. We ha\e 
no physical objects for landmarks. We trace the line backward 
by the light of imperfect and unsatisfactory evidence, which 
leaves it a matter almost of speculation whether there has been 
a departure or not. In some cases, indeed, the task is easy. If 
the fond mother becomes the murderer of her offspring, it is easy 
to see that she is deranged. If the pious man, whose steps were 
firm and whose pathway led straight to heaven, sinks without 
temptation into criminal debasement, it is easy to see that he is 
deranged. But in ca-ses where no natural instinct or elevated 
principle throAvs its light upon our research, it is often the most 
diiEcult and delicate of all human investigations to determine 
when a person is deranged. 

We have two tests. First, to compare the individual after 
the supposed derangement with himself as he was before. Sec- 
ond, to compare his course with those ordinary lines of human 
life Avhich we expect sane persons, of equal intelligence, and 
similarly situated, to pursue. 

If derangement, Avhich is insanity, mean only what Ave have 
assumed, how absurd is it to be looking to detect whether mem- 
ory, hope, joy, fear, hunger, thirst, reason, understanding, Avit, 
and other faculties, remain ? So long as life lasts they never 
cease to abide Avith man, Avhether he pursue his straight and 
natural Avay, or the crooked and unnatural course of the lunatic. 
If he be diseased, his faculties Avill not cease to act. They Avill 
only act differently. It is contended here that the prisoner is 
not deranged because he performed his daily task in the state- 
prison, and his occasional labor afterAvard ; because he grinds 
his knives, iits his Aveapons, and handles the file, the axe, and 
the saw, as he was instructed, and as he Avas Avont to do. Noav, 
the lunatic asylum at Utica has not an idle person in it, except 
the victims of absolute and incurable dementia, the last and 
worst stage of insanity. Lunatics are almost the busiest people 
in the Avorld. They have their prototypes only in children. 
One lunatic Avill make a garden, another drive the plough, anoth- 
er gather flowers. One writes poetry, another essays, another 
orations. In short, lunatics eat, drink, sleep, work, fear, love, 
hate, laugh, Aveep, mourn, die. They do all things that sane 



MISCELLANEOUS. 299 

men do, but do tliem in some peculiar way. It is said, liowevor, 
that this prisoner has hatred and anger, that he has remcmhored 
his wrongs, and nursed and cherished revenge ; wlierefore, he 
can not be insane. Cowper, a moralist Avho had tasted the hit- 
ter cup of insanity, reasoned otherwise ; — 

"But violence can never lonijci r sleep 
Than human passions please. In ev'ry heart 

, Are sown the sparks that kindle fi'ry war, 
Occasion needs hut fan them and they blaze, 
The seeds of murder in the breast of man." 

Melancholy springs oftenest from recalling and brooding over 
wrong and suffering. Melancholy is the first stage of madne'is, 
and it is only recently that the less accurate name of monomania 
has been substituted in the place of melancholy, ^[elancholy is 
the foster-mother of anger and revenge. — Argument in Defence 
of William Freeman, Juli/, 1846. 



fin,9aniti).— .Some of its Caiisrs aiiti Circumstances. 

All writers agree, what it needs not writers should teach, 
that neglect of education is a fruitful cause of insanity. If 
neglect of education produces crime, it equally produces insan- 
ity. Here was a bright, cheerful, happy child,* destined to 
become a member of the social state, entitled by the principles 
of our government to equal advantages for perfecting himself in 
intelligence, and even in political rights, with each of the three 
millions of our citizens, and blessed by our religion with equal 
hopes. Without his being taught to read, his mother, who lives 
by menial service, sends him forth at the age of eight or nine 
years to like employment. Reproaches are cast on his mother, 
on Mr. Warden, and on Mr. Lynch, for not sending him to school, 
but the reproaches are all unjust. How could she, poor de- 
graded negress and Indian as she was, send her child to school? 
And where was the school to Avhich Warden and Lynch should 
have sent him ? There Avas no school for him. His few and 
wretched years date back to the beginning of my acquaintance 
here, and during all that time, with unimportant exceptions, 

* Willinm Fiveinan.— See p. 99. 



300 SELECTIONS. 

there lias been no school here for children of his caste. A school 
for colored children was never established here, and all the com- 
mon schools were closed against them. Money would always 
procure instruction for my children, and relieve me from the 
responsibility. But the colored children who have from time to 
time been confided to my charge, have been cast upon my own 
care for education. When I sent them to school with my own 
children, they were sent back to me with a message that they 
must be withdrawn because they were black, or the school would 
cease. Here are the fruits of this unmanly and criminal preju- 
dice. A whole family is cut off in the midst of usefulness and 
honors by the hand of an assassin 

Mere imprisonment is often a cause of insanity. Four insane 
persons have, on this trial, been mentioned as residing among 
us, all of whom became insane in the stateprison. Authentic 
statistics show that there are never less than thu-ty insane per- 
sons in each of our two great penitentiaries. In the stateprison, 
the prisoner was subjected to severe corporeal punishment by 
keepers, who mistook a decay of mind and morbid melancholy 
for idleness, obstinacy, and malice. Beaten, as he was, until 
the organs of his hearing ceased to perform their functions, 
who shall say that other and more important organs connected 
with the action of his mind did not become diseased through 
sympathy 1 Such a life, so filled with neglect, injustice, and 
severity, with anxiety, pain, disappointment, solicitude, and 
grief, would have its fitting conclusion in a madhouse. If it 
be true, as the wisest of inspired writers hath said, " Verily, 
oppression maketh a wise man mad," what may we not ex- 
pect it to do with a foolish, ignorant, illiterate man ! 

There is proof, gentlemen, stronger than all this. It is silent, 
yet speaking. It is that idiotic smile which plays continually 
on the face of the maniac. It took its seat there while he was 
in the stateprison. In his solitary cell, under the pressure of 
his severe tasks and trials in the workshop, and during the 
solemnities of public worship in the chapel, it appealed, although 
in vain, to his taskmasters and his teachers. It is a smile, never 
rising into laughter, without motive or cause — the smile of 
vacuity. His mother saw it when he came out of prison, and 
it broke her heart. John Depuy saw it and knew his brother 



MISCELLANKOUS. ^,01 

was demented. Deborah Dopiiy observed it and knew liini for 
a fool. David Winner read in it tlic ruin of his friend, Sally's 
son. It has never forsaken him in his later trials, lie laughed 
in the face of Parker, while on confession at Baldwinsvillc. Ho 
laughed involuntarily in the faces of Warden and Curtis, and 
W^orden and Austin, and Bigelow and Smith, and Brigham and 
Spencer. He laughs perpetually here. Even when Van Ars- 
dale showed the scarred traces of the assassin's knife, and when 
Helen Holmes related the dreadful story of the murder of iior 
patrons and friends, he laughed. He laughs while I am plead- 
ing his griefs. He laughs when the attorney-general's bolts 
would seem to rive his heart. He will laugh when you declare 
him guilty. When the judge shall proceed to the last fatal 
ceremony, and demand what he has to say why the sentence of 
the law should not be pronounced upon him, although tliore 
should not be an unmoisteued eye in this vast assembly, and 
the stern voice addressing him should tremble with emotion, he 
will even then look up in the face of the court and laugh, from 
the irresistible emotions of a shattered mind, delighted and lost 
in the confused memory of absurd and ridiculous associations. 
Follow him to the scaffold. The executioner can not disturb 
the calmness of the idiot. He will laugh in the agony of death. 
Do you not know the significance of this strange and unnatural 
risibility 1 It is a proof that God does not forsake even the 
poor wretch whom we pity or despise. There are in every hu- 
man memory a well of joys and a fountain of soitows. Disease 
opens wide the one, and seals up the other, for ever. . . . 

That chaotic smile is the external derangement which signi- 
fies that the strings of the harp are disordered and l)roken, the 
superficial mark which God has set upon the tabernacle, to 
signify that its immortal tenant is disturbed by a divine and 
mysterious visitation. If you can not see it, take heed that the 
obstruction of your vision be not produced by the mote in your 
own eye, which you are commanded to remove before you con- 
sider the beam in your brother's eye. If you are bent on 
rejecting the testimony of those who know, by experience and 
by science, the deep affliction of the prisoner, beware how you 
misinterpret the handwriting of the Almighty. — Argument m 
Defence of William Freeman, 1846. 



302 SELECTIONS. 



JEijt iHWvonQs of tl)c l^cfiro. 

I HAVE heard the greatest of American orators ; I have heard 
Daniel O'Connell and Sir Robert Peel ; but I heard John Depny 
make a speech excelling them all in eloquence : " They have 
made William Freeman what he is, a brute beast ; they don't 
make anything else of any of our people but brute beasts ; but 
when we violate their laws, then they want to punish us as if 
we were men." 

Deborah Depuy is also assailed as unworthy of credit. She 
calls herself the wife of Hiram Depuy, Avith whom she has lived 
ostensibly in that relation for seven years, in, I believe, unques- 
tioned fidelity to him and her children. But it appears that she 
has not been married with the proj)er legal solemnities. If she 
M'ere a white woman, I should regard her testimony with caution, 
but the securities of marriage are denied to the African race over 
more than half of this country. It is within our own memory 
that the master's cupidity coiild divorce husband and wife Avithin 
this state, and sell their children into perpetual bondage. Since 
the act of emancipation here, what has been done by the white 
man to lift up the race from the debasement into which he had 
plunged it 1 Let us impart to negroes the knowledge and spirit 
of Christianity, and share with them the privileges, dignity and 
hopes of citizens and Christians, before we expect of them purity 
and self-respect. 

But, gentlemen, even in a slave state, the testimony of this 
witness Avould receive credit in such a cause, for negroes may 
be witnesses there, for and against persons of their ow?i caste. 
It is only when the life, liberty, or property of the white man 
is invaded, that the negro is disqualified. Let us not be too se- 
vere. There was once upon the earth a Divine Teacher who 
shall come again to judge the world in righteousness. They 
brought to him a woman taken in adultery, and said to him that 
the law of Moses directed that such should be stoned to death, 
and he answered : " Let him that is without sin cast the first 
stone." 

The testimony of Sally Freeman, the mother of the pris- 
oner, is questioned. She utters the voice of nature. She is 



MISCELLANEOUS. 303 

the guardian whom God assigned to study, to watch, to learn, to 
know what the prisoner was, and is, and to cherish the memory 
of it for ever. She coukl not forget it if she wouhl. There is 
not a blemish on the person of any one of us, born with us or 
coming from disease or accident, nor have Ave committed a right 
or wrong action, that has not been treasured up in the memory 
of a mother. Juror ! roll up the sleeve from your manly ann 
and you will find a scar there of which you know nothing. Your 
mother will give you the detail of every day's progress of the 
preventive disease. — Sally Freeman has the mingled blood of 
the African and Indian races. She is nevertheless a woman, and 
a mother, and nature bears witness in every climate and in every 
country, to the singleness and uniformity of those characters. I 
have known and proved them in the hovel of the slave, and in 
the wigwam of the CbippcAva. But Sally Freeman has been 
intemperate. The Avhite man enslaved her ancestors of the one 
race, exiled and destroyed those of the other, and debased them 
all by corrupting their natural and healthful appetites. She 
comes honestly by her only vice. Yet when she comes here to 
testify for a life that is dearer to her than her own, to say she 
knows her own son, the white man says she is a drunkard ! May 
Heaven forgive the white man for adding this last, this cruel 
injury to the wrongs of such a mother ! Fortunately, gentle- 
men, her character and conduct are before you. No woman 
ever appeared with more sobriety, decency, modesty, and pro- 
priety, than she has exhibited here. No witness has dared to 
say or think that Sally Freeman is not a woman of truth. A 
witness for the prosecution, who knows her well, says, that with 
all her infirmities of temper and of habit, Sally " was ahvays a 
truthful woman." The Roman Cornelia could not have claimed 
more. Let then the stricken mother testify for her son. 
" I ask not, I care not.'if guilt's in that heart, 
I know that I love thee, whatever thou art !" 
The circumstances under which this trial closes are peculiar. 
I have seen capital cases Avhere the parents, brothers, sisters, 
friends of the accused surrounded him, eagerly hanging upon 
the lips of his advocate, and watching, in the countenances of 
the court and jury, every smile and frown which might seem to 
indicate his fate. But there is no such scene here. The pris- 



804 SELECTIONS. 

oner, though in the greenness of youth, is withered, decayed. 
senseless, almost lifeless. He has no father here. The descen- 
dant of slaves, that father died a victim to the vices of a supe- 
rior race. There is no mother here, for her child is stained and 
polluted with the blood of mothers and of a sleeping infant ; and 
he " looks and laughs so that she can not bear to look upon him." 
There is no brother, nor sister, nor friend here. Popular rage 
ag-ainst the accused has driven them hence, and scattered his 
khidred and people. On the other side, I notice the aged and 
venerable parents of Van Nest and his surviving children, and 
all around are mourning and sympathizing friends. I knoAv not 
at whose instance they have come. I dare not say they ought 
not to be here. But I must say to you that we live in a Chris- 
tian and not in a savage state, and that the affliction which has 
fallen upon these mourners and us, Avas sent to teach them and 
us mercy and not retaliation ; that, although we may send this 
maniac to the scaffold, it will not recall to life the manly form 
of Van Nest, nor re-animate the exhausted frame of that aged 
matron, nor restore to life, and grace, and beauty, the murdered 
mother, nor call back the infant boy from the arms of his Savior. 
Such a verdict can do no good to the living, and carry no joy 
to the dead.. — Argument in Defence of William Freeman, 1846. 

Wc^z Knlrians— Specct) of an ©nonGafla 0;i)icf. 

Great Father : Your children, the Onondagas, have sent 
me to you, and they ask you to open your ears to me, and hear 
the talk which they have sent by me to you. . . . 

Father : you are young in years ; we hope you are old in 
counsel — so our white brethren tell us, and we believe it. And 
your red children would like to know what is your mind, and 
whether it is like our other white fathers, who have sat in coun- 
cil before you at the great coimcil-iire in Albany, and who are 
now dead. . . . 

Father : Listen once more. The chiefs, and warriors, and 
women of the Onondagas have had a long council — a talk of 
three days ; and their request to their father is, that he will shut 
his ears, shake his head, and turn his face away from all talk to 
him about the sale of the lands of the Onondagas. We know 



MISUKLLAXKOUS. 305 

he can do it, and drive them away — preserve tlie nation in 
peace — keep them together in friendsliip — and not scatter 
them like the Oneidas. 

We now make our Last request. Will our fatlier tliiuk of the 
talk which his red children have nuw sent liim ? Will ho send 
them his mind ? Will he remember his children of the Ononda- 
gas, as our white fathers have done, and let them continue to 
lie under his shade, as they have done under the shade of their 
white fathers before him 1 Will he also be a father to them, 
and send them his mind ? This is all that is sent by me, and I 
have done. 

(!>obcnxoi- ^c\Dnvt)'s llrply. 

I HAVE considered the talk you have made to me in behalf 
of the sachems, chiefs, and warriors of the Onondagas. I am 
sorry to hear that the avarice of white men and the discontent 
of red men have excited alarms among your people. I rejoice, 
and all good white men rejoice, to hear that the Onondagas have 
determined to banish the use of strong water — that they assume 
the habits and customs of civilized life, cultivate their lands, pos- 
sess oxen and horses, and desire to remain in the land of their 
brave and generous, though unfortunate forefathers. 

Why should the Onondagas exchange their homes among us 
for the privations of the wilderness in the far west ? They 
are a quiet, inoffensive, and improving people. The })ublic wel- 
fare does not require that they should be banished from their 
native land. Although individuals often improve tlicir fortunes 
by emigration, the removal of a whole community is always 
followed by calamity and distress. With temperance, industry, 
and education, the Onondagas may be comfoVtable and happy, 
and in time they may become good citizens of the state. 

White men ought to be just and generous to your race. In- 
dians, but a few years ago, possessed all this broad domain. Now 
the white men own all, except the small parcels which have been 
reserved as a home for the remnants of the Indian tribes. There 
is one common Father of all mankind. Although his ways are 
inscrutable, we know that his benevolence extends to all his 
children alike, and his blessings rest upon those who protect the 
defenceless and succor the unfortunate. 



306 - SELECTIONS. 

Say to your people that I heard their message with attention ; 
that I approve their determination to retain their lands and 
remain under the' protection of the state ; that, so far as depends 
upon my exertions, the treaties made with them shall be faith- 
fully kept ; that if white men seek to obtain their lands by 
force or fraud, I will set my face against them ; if red men 
propose to sell the lands, I will expostulate with them, and 
endeavor to convince them of their error, and that I will in no 
event consent to such sale, except with the free, and unbought, 
and uncorrupted consent of the chiefs, head men, warriors, and 
people of the OnondagfTS, and not even then without an effort 
to persuade them that their true happiness Avould be pro- 
m^d by retaining their possessions, cultivating their lands, 
and enjoying the comforts with which our common Father 
has surrounded them. The Onondagas may confide in me. — 
Albany, March 6, 1840. 

3letter— 3^cj)h) to t|)c €:olovfti €:itucns of ^Ibaui), 

If prejudice, interest, and passion, did sometimes counsel me 
that what seemed to be the rights t)f the African race might be 
overlooked without compromise of principle, and even with per- 
sonal advantage, yet I never have been able to find a better 
definition of equality than that which is contained in the Dec- 
laration of Independence, or of justice, than the form which our 
religion adopts. If, as the former asserts, all men are born free 
and equal, institutions which deny them equal political rights 
and advantages are unjust, and if I would do unto others as I 
would desire them to do unto me, I should not deny them any 
right on account of the hue they wear, or of the land in which 
they or their ancestors "were born. 

Only time can determine between those who have upheld, and 
those who have opposed the measures to which you have ad- 
verted. But I feel encouraged to wait that decision, since, in 
the moment when, if ever, reproaches for injustice should come, 
the exile does not reproach me, the prisoner does not exult in 
my departure, and the disfranchised and the slave greet me 
with their salutations. And if every other hope of my iieart 
. shall fail, the remembrance that I have received the thanks of 



MISCELLANEOUS. 807 

those who have just cause to uphraid tlie memory of our fore- 
fothois, and to complain of our contemporaries, will satisfy mo 
that I liave not lived altogether in vain. 

May that God whose impartial love knows no difference 
among" those to Avhom he has imparted a portion of his own 
spirit, and upon whom he has impressed his own image, reward 
you for your kindness to me now and in times past, and sanc- 
tion and bless your generous and noble efforts to regain all the 
rights of which you have been deprived. — Jan. 10, 1843. 

Z\)z J^ilitft-i Si'stcm— Reforms pvoposcU.* 
I AIM aware that the amendments I have submitted are such 
an innovation upon the existing militia system, as to require, if 
not an apology for offering them, at least an explanation of the 
necessity for a change of some kind. Complaints long and loud 
have been made of the defects of the system, and the oppressive 
burden it imposes upon *iie people ; these complaints have, at 
length, reached the executive ear, nnd have drawn from the 
governor a recommendation to the consideration of the legis- 
lature. I do not know that I should have ventured to suggest 
the amendments, had not the committee of the senate, after ma- 
ture dehberation, reported a bill which can be regarded in no 
other light but as going immediately to change the whole sys- 
tem, and, in the result, to abolish it. This bill originates in the 
deep conviction, I doubt not, of the committee, that some law 
must be proposed to relieve the people from the trouble of mili- 
tary duty under the present organization. I confess that it is 
not my object to destroy the system ; but, at the same time, 
that I would relieve the people from the burden it imposes — I 
would, if possible, preserve and improve the militia, and would 
elevate it so that it might be what it ought to be — the ornament 
of the country, and the safeguard of the rights and liberties of 
the people. 

***** ***•*♦ 

I propose as a remedy for the evils I have mentioned — 

1st. To reduce the number of the militia who shall be required 

to perform military duty, to some much smaller number — say 

fifty thousand, sixty thousand, or seventy thousand ; the last 

* This appears to liave been Mr. SewnrJ's firfif. pai-liamentary effort. — Ed. 



808 SELECTIONS. 

being, I believe, about the number of uniformed troops, in tlie 
present organization, and I would, I confess, prefer to sustain 
those whose public spirit and military ardor have induced them 
to assume their present organization. 

2d, To make the performance of military duty voluntary, as 
far as practicable. 

This force, if it consist of but fifty thousand men, may be 
subdivided into five divisions, ten brigades, fifty regiments, and 
five hundred companies. After what I fear has been a tedious 
detail of the evils and defects of the present system, it will be 
necessary to state, but very briefly, the advantages of the pro- 
posed system. They would be — that the force could be well 
and easily organized. It could be uniformed — disciplined to 
some considerable extent ; not only the officers, but the troops 
could be improved in military skill. All this could be done, 
because there are nearly, if not quite, the requisite number of 
young men, who would be able and willing to encounter the 
expense of filling up the ranks. And if necessary that legisla- 
tive encouragement should be afforded, it could be done to any 
requisite extent at much less expense than is now drawn from 
the yeomanry of the country to sustain the present defective 
system. Men would then seek and obtain the offices in the 
militia, who would have the ability and spirit necessary for the 
discharge of the important duties attached to them. 

Adopt such a system, and I feel assured that the militia, 
instead of being degraded, ridiculed, and despised, will be re- 
spected, honored, and valued ; men enough will volunteer to take 
its most subordinate ranks, from the patriotic desire to be among 
those upon whom the republic will rely for its defenders, and 
from the honorable ambition for military promotion 

Finally, the time has come to decide whether the militia sys- 
tem shall be preserved or abandoned. It can be no longer 
maintained without radical alteration and amendment. And 
though members may wish to preserve it, they will find it as 
hopeless as the attempt to retain the snow which melts more 
rapidly with the pressure of the hand. 

I have looked upon the system Avith veneration, while I have 
felt and acknowledged the justice of the popular complaint against 
it ; and, under the influence of mingled solicitude arisingfinivi both 



* MISCELLANEOUS. 309 

these causes, I have long endeavored to find a remedy for the 
evils I have mentioned. Of all whicli I liave ima-ined and lioard 
suggested, this appears to me most feasible, as Avell as most likely 
to be effectual. It is ^vith a degree of diflidence I have ven- 
tured to give my views on the subject, which only can be over- 
come by a sense of my responsibility, before I can give a vote 
which will go to the eventual abolition of the system ; to offer 
the best exertion in my power to procure it, and, at t'lie same 
time, to meet the requirements of the people. I liave ahvays 
felt that the militia system is a relic of the age of the Revolu- 
tion too valuable to be idly thrown away ; that it is a strong 
and beautiful pillar of the government which ought not to be 
rudely torn from its base. But if no effectual remedy can be 
found in legislative wisdom, I shall feel myself bound, though 
with reluctance, to vote at all hazards for such a bill as will 
redress the evils the system imposes, and to trust to the exigen- 
cies of invasion, insurrection, or oppression, for a rcgeneradon 
of the military spirit which brought the nation' into "existence, 
and will, if restored in its primitive purity and vigor, be able to 
carry us through the dark and perilous ways of national calam- 
ity yet unknown to us, but which must, at some time, be trod- 
den by all nations. — Sjyeec/i m N. Y. Senate, Feb. 11, 1831. 

3rt)c 3Pui>lic Bomain— STlje l^omestcati iDiincii)lc. 

The aggregate quantity of the national estate is fifteen 
hundred and eighty-four millions of acres ; of which, one hun- 
dred and thirty-four millions have been definitely appropri- 
ated, and there remain, including appropriations not yet perfect- 
ed, fourteen hundred and fifty millions of acres. 

Using only round numbers, these lands are distributed among 
the states and territories as follows : — 

Acres. 

It^Obio 745,000 

In«-liana 2,751,000 



111 



inois 14,060,000 



Missouri 29,216,000 

Alabama 17,238,000 

Mississippi 14,308,000 

Louisiana 22,854,000 

Michigan 24,864,000 



310 SELECTIONS. * 

Arkansas 27,402,000 

Florida 31,801,000 

Iowa 27,153,000 

Wisconsin 26,321,000 

Minnesota 56,000,000 

Northwest Territory 37 0,000,000 

Oregon Territory 218,536,000 

Nebraska Territory 87,488,000 

Indian Territory 119,789,000 

California and Utah 287,162,000 

New Mexico 49,727,000 

The domain came to the United States encumbered with a 
right of possession by Indian tribes, which we are gradually ex- 
tinguishing by purchase, as the necessities of advancing popula- 
tion require. 

At the establishment of the federal government, the United 
States suffered from exhaustion by war, and labored under the 
pressure of a great national debt, Avhile they were obliged to 
make large expenditures for neAV institutions, and to prepare for 
defence by land and by sea. They therefore adopted a policy 
which treated the domain merely as a fund or som-ce of revenue. 
They divided it into townships, sections, and quarter-sections, 
and offered it at public sale, at a minimum price of two dollars 
per acre, on credit, and subsequently at private sale, on the same 
terms. In 1820, they abolished the credit system, and reduced 
the price to one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. In 
1833, they recognised a right of pre-emption in favor of actual 
occupants; and the system, as thus modified, still remains in 
form upon our statute-book. The United States, however, have, 
at different times, made very different dispositions of portions 
of the domain. Thus there have been appropriated to the new 
states and territories, for purposes of internal improvement, for 
saline reservations, for the establishment of seats of government 
and public buildings, and for institutions of education, as follows : 

Acres. 

To Ohio 1,847,575 

Indiana 2,331,690 

Illinois 1,649,024 

Missouri 1,798,748 

Alabama 1,473,994 

Mississippi 1,884,944 



MISCELLANEOUS. 311 

Louisiana 1,332,124 

Michigan 1,674,598 

Arkansas 1,489,220 

Wisconsin 217,920 

Iowa 46,720 

Florida 1,553,635 

Besides these appropriations, the senate will at once recall 
several acts of Congress, which surrendered, in the whole, sev- 
enty-nine millions of acres for bounties in the Mexican war, 
bounties in the war of 1812, subsequent gratuities to the soldiers 
in the same war and in Indian wars, cessions of swamp lands to 
new states, and for the construction of a railroad from Chicago 
to Mobile, and other internal improvements, none of which last- 
named cessions have yet been located. 

The aggregate of revenues derived from the public domain is 
one hundred and thirty-five millions three hundred and thirty- 
nine thousand ninety-three dollars and ninety-three cents, show- 
ing an annual average revenue of one and a quarter million of 
dollars since the system of sales was adopted. 

Mr. President, I think the time is near at hand Avhen the 
United States will find it expedient to review their policy, and 
to consider the follov>^ing principles : — 

First. That lands shall be granted in limited quantities, gra- 
tuitously, to actual cultivators only. 

Second. That the possessions of such grantees shall be secured 
against involuntary alienation. 

Third. That the United States shall relinquish to the states 
the administration of the public lands within their limits. 

If the public lands were movable merchandise, price would be 
the principal, if not the only subject of inquiry. On the contra- 
ry, it is only the money received by the government on sales 
that perishes or passes away. The lands remain fixed just where 
they were before the sale, and they constitute a part of the ter- 
ritory subject to municipal administration as much after sale as 
before. The possessors of the land sold become soon, if not im- 
mediately, citizens, and they will ultimately be a majority of 
the whole population of the country, supporting the government 
by their contributions, maintaining it by their arms, and wield- 
ing it for their own and the general welfare. To look, then, at 
this subject merely with reference to the revenue that might be 



312 SELECTIONS. 

derived from the sale of the lands, would be to commit the fault 
of that least erected spirit that fell from heaven, whose 

"Looks and thoughts 
"Were always downward bent, admiring more 
The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold. 
Than aught divine, or holy, else enjoyed." 

All will admit — all do admit — that the power over the domain 
should be so exercised as to favor the increase of population, the 
augmentation of wealth, the cultivation of virtue, and the diffu- 
sion of happiness 

Commercial supremacy demands just such an agricultural basis 
as the fertile and extensive regions of the United States, when 
inhabited, will supply. Political supremacy follows commercial 
ascendency. It was by reason of the want of just such an agri- 
cultural basis that Venice, Portugal, and Holland, successively 
lost commerce and empire. It was for the purpose of securing 
just such a basis, that France, England, and Spain, seized so 
eagerly and held so tenaciously the large portions of this conti- 
nent which they respectively occupied. It was for the purpose 
of supplying the loss of this basis, that England has, within the 
last seventy years, extended her conquests over a large portion 
of India. 

We now possess this basis, and all that we need is to develop 
its capabilities as fully and as rapidly as possible. Nor ought 
we to overlook another great political interest. Mutual jeal- 
ousies delayed a long time the establishment of the Union of 
these states, and have ever since threatened its dissolution. It 
is apparent thafthe ultimate security for its continuance is found 
in the power of the states established, and hereafter to be es- 
tablished, on the pjiblic domain. Those new and vigorous com- 
munities continually impart new life to the entire commonwealth, 
while the absolute importance of free access to the ocean will 
secure their loyalty, even if the fidelity of the Atlantic states 
shall fail. Such as these, sir, may have been some of the con- 
siderations that induced Andrew Jackson so long ago to declare 
his opinion, that the time was not distant when the public do- 
main ought to cease to be regarded as a source of revenue. 
Such considerations may have had some influence with the late 
distinguished senator from South Carolina fJ. C. Calhoun], to 



MISCELLANEOUS. 313 

propose a release of the public domain to the states, on their 
paying a small per centum of revenue to the United States ; 
and we are at liberty to suppose that a course of reasoning not 
entirely unlike this, brought that eminent statesman, wlio is now 
secretary of state [Damel WebstkuJ to propose here, a year 
ago, a gratuitous appropriation of the public domain to actual 
settlers. — Speech in U. S. Scnafc, Feb. 27, 1851. 

The inhabitants of the banks of the Nile have a tradition that 
the greatest of the Egyptian pyramids was built by the antedi- 
luvians, and they venerate that great obelisk as the oidy work 
of that mighty race that has withstood the floods tliat changed 
and deformed the face of nature. Something like this is tlu' 
reverence I feel toward the whig party. It Avas erected not 
this year, nor a few years ago. Its foundations were laid and 
its superstructure reared by the mighty men of ages now re- 
mote — by the Hampdens, the Sidneys, the Vanes, and the Mil- 
tons — by the presbyterians, the puritans, the republicans, the 
whigs, of England — those Avho first secured the responsibiHty 
of kings by bringing the tyrant Charles to the block, and the 
mviolability of parliaments by erecting, even in England, Scot- 
land, and Ireland, a commonwealth. Then and there arose the 
whig party — that party which now, under whatever name, in 
every civilized country, advocates the cause of constitutional, 
representative government, with watchful jealousy of executive 
power. Of that race, who feared only God, and loved liberty, 
were the founders of Virginia and of Xew England ; and the 
catholic founders of Maryland and the peaceful settlers of 
Pennsylvania were worthy associates with them. Here tliey 
established goveniments of which Europe was not worthy, and 
to perpetuate them they founded institutions for the education 
of children and for the worship of God. 

Thus early was promulgated the pure whig creed — e(|ual 
popular representative government, jealousy of executive power, 
the education of children, and the worship of God. When the 
prosperity of these colonies excited the cupidity of the parent- 
state, and the king and parhament invaded the rights of the 

14 



314 SELECTIONS. 

American people, there were two parties as there always have 
been since, and always will be hereafter. One of them adhered 
to the colonies through perils of confiscation and death — the 
other clung to the throne of England. The one was whig — and 
the other was — I will not call a name that the error of ultra 
loyalty then rendered odious, and thenceforth and for ever infa- 
mous. I desire to be understood. I by no means impute to 
our opponents that they have succeeded to the loyalists of the 
Revolution. I aver solemnly my belief that, as a general truth, 
all men of all parties are alike honest and patriotic citizens, and 
seek their country's good alone. Political life would have been 
unprofitable indeed if it had not taught me the virtue of candor 
in judging others, as Avell as the great error of always expecting 
candor in their judgments on myself. * * * * 

"Which, then, is the whig party 1 which the republican 1 which 
the true democratic party — the party of liberty, of equality, of 
humanity — the party of hope, of progress, and of civilization? 
Let the history of the past, let the developments of the future, 
determine. The whig party has committed errors. Human 
nature can not but err. Individuals often err, and masses still 
more frequently. But the errors of the whig party are always 
on the side of law, of order, and of popular liberty. Let us take 
care to correct all our errors, and let us take care that no errors 
of conduct, no partial or temporary interests, no prejudices un- 
worthy of freemen or of men, retard the progress of this great 
party of our hopes and our affections. Let it continue to occupy 
all its broad foundations — to offer security, protection, improve- 
ment, and elevation, to all conditions of men, as all conditions 
of men alike enjoy the impartial favor of God, and are entitled 
to impartial representation in government. — Sj)eec7i, Auhurn, 
Feb. 22, 1844. 

a;f)e ^Iban^ S^esenr^ in 1824.* 

Honest and honorable men are convinced that a combination 
exists in this state, enjoys its honors, and wields .its power, whose 

* This address is among Mr. Seward's earliest political efforts. At the 
time it was written (1824) he was but twenty-three years old. A more 
faithful portrait of the " Albanj** Regency" could scarcely have been drawn 
by a practised hand or at a later period. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 315 

principles and practices arc at war with its Ijcst interest, its pros- 
perity, and its fame. 

The history of this combination begins wlien, takinj? advan- 
tage of the strong current of popular opinion in favor of a cor- 
rection of the errors of the old constitution of this state, a few 
men who were clamorous for reform, but whose lives had exhib- 
ited not one sacrifice for the public good, united with a few 
others until then unknown among us, because they had done 
nothing worthy of notice, and all becoming loud in their protes- 
tations of devotion to republicanism, they succeeded in obtaining 
seats in the late constitutional convention. 

Defeated then in their efforts to retain the old council of ap- 
pointment which they had hoped to wield at their pleasure, they 
succeeded in incorporating into the new constitutional system an 
institution, the evils of which are more severe than those which 
were produced by the justly obnoxious features of the system 
which was abolished — an institution which combines in one 
strong phalanx the officeholders, from the governor and the sen- 
ators down to the justices of the peace in the most remote jjarts 
of the state — which makes the governor a subservient tool of 
the faction which designates him ; converts the otherwise re- 
spectable judiciaries of the counties into shambles for the bargain 
and sale of offices ; and selects justices of the peace (in whose 
courts are decided questions involving a gTeater amount of prop- 
erty than in all the other tribunals of the state), not from among 
those whom an intelligent people would choose, but from the 
supple and needy parasites of power, who may, and it is to be 
feared do, bring not only the influence but the very authority 
of their offices to the support of the party whose creatures they 
are. Thus it has come to pass that each of the several counties 
contains a little aristocracy of officeholders, existing indepen- 
dently of popular control, while they are banded together by 
ties of common political brotherhood. 

Another part of their organization which presents serious 
ground of apprehension, is the caucus system. It was in vain 
that the framers of the constitution placed a barrier between 
those who should make the laws and those who should execute 
them. The doctrine of construction has been extended so far 
by ingenuity and subtlety, that then- union is no longer an 



316 SELECTIONS. 

anomaly. Men chosen to make laws, have constituted them- 
selves a power to appoint those by whom they shall be executed. 
The effect is, that these men have themselves become the sub- 
jects of barter and sale. Public and beneficent laws are seldom 
seen in their journals, while their pages are swollen with laws 
to accommodate politicians and speculators. Republican dignity 
and simplicity are banished from the public councils, and faction 
has obtruded its unblushing front into the halls of legislation. 
The caucus system, originally adopted for necessity, and never 
considered obligatory further than its nominations concurred with 
popular opinion, has been converted into a political inquisition. 
Patriotism is made to consist in a servile submission to its decrees. 
Offices and honors are offered to those only who will renounce 
their independence, and give their support to the " old and es- 
tablished usages of the party," while denunciations without 
measure are poured forth upon the heads of those who dare to 
question the infallibility of the decrees thus obtained. These 
denunciations have had their effect upon weak and timid minds, 
while the inducements offered on the other hand have not failed 
to enlist profligate politicians. These systems constitute the 
machinery of the Albany regency. Honest men need no such 
aid to maintain a just influence. The safety of the state is not 
to be secured, nor its welfare to be promoted, by combinations 
to deprive the people of their constitutional power. When in 
republican states men attempt to entrench themselves beyond 
the popular reach, their designs require investigation. Such 
men have for three years exercised the authority of this state. 
And what have they done to promote its prosperity or to add to 
its renown ? The judiciary, once our pride, is humbled and de- 
graded. The march of internal improvement is retarded, and 
the character of the state is impaired. Let the proceedings of 
the present legislature speak — a legislature composed of mem- 
bers, most of whom were pledged in their several counties, and 
all of whom were instructed to restore to the people their con- 
stitutional right of appointing electors of president and vice-pres- 
ident of the United States. Yet its journals exhibit little else 
than contradictory measures, affecting private corporations, to- 
gether with all the practices of chicanery and open opposition 
to the very law they were required to pass. — Address, 1824. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 317 



ScciTt ^Joliticnl 5:ocirtic». 

If virtue yet abide among us, if there be intcllifrence in our 
fellow-citizens to appreciate tlie clangers -which tlireaten tlieir 
liberty, and if there be patriotism to resist and prevent tlicm, 
which we most firmly believe, there can be no doubt of tlie re- 
sult of such a contest. On the one side is an aristocratic nobility, 
composed of men bound togvtber by the most terrific oatlis, 
which conflict with the administration of justice, with private 
rights, and witli the public security ; a privileged order, claim- 
ing and securing to its members unequal advantages over their 
fellow-citizens, veiling its proceedings from scmtiny by pledges 
of secrecy, collecting funds to unknown amounts and for un- 
known purposes, and operating through our extended country at 
any time and on any subject, with all the efficacy of perfect 
organization, controlled and directed by unseen and unknown 
hands. On the other side, a portion of your fellow-citizens ask 
for equal rights and equal privileges among the freemen of this 
country. They say it is in vain that this eipiality of rights and 
privileges is secured in theory by our constitutions and laws, if, 
by a combination to subvert it, it is in fact no longer enjoyed. 
They point you to masonic oaths, and to the effects of those 
dreadful obligations upon our elections, upon witnesses in courts 
of justice, and upon jurors. They show you one of your citizens 
murdered under their influence, and the ofienders escaping with 
impunity. They exhibit to you the power of your courts defied, 
and the administration of justice defeated, through the instru- 
mentality of those obligations. And they ask you whether our 
country can any longer be described as a land *' where no man 
is so powerful as to be above the law, and no one so Innnble as 
to be beneath its protection." — Legislative Address, 1831. 

Bdicf for t|)c J^utJiflcnt 3:nstiuc.— (Tlic ITnion anO the States. 

Congress has passed a bill by Avhicli ten millions of acres of 
the public domain are granted to the several states, with un- 
questioned equality, on condition that they shall accept the 
same, and sell the lands at not less than one dollar per -acre, and 
safely invest the gross proceeds, and for ever apply the interest 



318 SP]LECTIONS. 

thereon to the maintenance of their indigent insane inhabitants. 
This grant is a contribntion to the states, made from a peculiar 
national resource, at a time when the treasury is overflowing. It 
is made at the suggestion, and it is not stating the case too 
strongly to say, through the unaided, unpaid, and purely disin- 
terested influence of an American woman [Miss Dix], who, 
while all other members of society have been seeking hoAv to 
advance their own fortunes and happiness, or the prosperity and 
greatness of their country, has consecrated her life to the relief 
of the most pitiable form in which the Divine Ruler afilicts our 
common humanity. 

The purpose of the bill has commended it to our warmest and 
most active sympathies. Not a voice has censured it, in either 
house of Congress. It is the one only purpose of legislation, 
snfliciently great to arrest attention, that has met with universal 
approbation throughout the country, during the present session. 
It seems as if some sad fatality attends our public action, when 
this measure is singled out from among all others, to be baffled 
and defeated by an executive veto. Such, however, is the fact. 
The bill has been returned by the president, with objections 
which it is now our constitutional duty to consider. 

The president expresses deep concern lest this contribution 
by the federal government to the states should impair their vigor 
and independence. But it is not easy to see how a contribution 
which they are at liberty to reject, and which they are to apply 
to a necessary and proper purpose of government, in entire in- 
dependence of the federal government, can wound their self- 
respect, or deprive them of any of their attributes of sovereignty. 

The president is moreover, deeply disturbed by an appre- 
hension, that if the policy of this bill should be pursued, its 
noble purposes would be defeated, and the fountains of charity 
within the states would be dried up. The president must 
not needlessly afflict himself in this wise, on the score of 
humanity. Experience is against his fears. Congress has never 
manifested a disposition of profuse liberality toward the states. 
Every community that has received from the federal territory 
or property, military bounties or pensions is at least as brave and 
patriotic as it was before. Every community that has received 



MISCELLANEOUS. 819 

from tlie same sources contributions for the purposes of internal 
improvement is more enterprising than before. Every commu- 
nity that has received aid for its schools of learning has been 
rendered more zealous and more munificent in the cause of edu- 
cation. 

As in the early days of the republic, there was a school of 
latitudinariau construction of the constitution, which school was 
quite erroneous ; so, also, there is now a school whose maxim is 
strict construction of the constitution, and this school has accu- 
mulated precedents and traditions equally calculated to extin- 
guish the spirit of the constitution. Circumstances have alto- 
gether changed since that school was founded. The states were 
then rich and strong ; the Union was poor and powerless. Vir- 
ginia lent to the United States a hundred thousand dollars to 
build their capitol. But the states could not enlarge themselves. 
They possessed respectively either no public lands at all, or very 
small domains, and to such domains they have added nothing by 
purchase or by conquest. Charged with all the expenses of 
municipal administration, including the relief of the indigent, the 
cure of the diseased, the education of the people, and the removal 
of natural obstructions to trade and intercourse, they reserved, 
nevertheless, only the power to raise revenues by direct taxa- 
tion, one which always was and always will be reg'arded with 
jealousy and dislike, and is therefore never one that can be 
freely exercised. 

The Union, on the contrary, by conquest and purchase, has 
quadrupled its domain, and is in possession of superabundant 
revenues, derived from that domain and from imposts upon for- 
eign commerce, while it also enjoys the j)ower of direct taxation. 
Contrast the meager salaries of the ofiicers of the states with 
the liberal ones enjoyed by the agents of the Union. Contrast 
the ancient, narrow, and cheerless capitols of Annapolis, Har- 
risburg, and Albany, with this magnificent edifice, amplifying 
itself to the north and the south, while it is surrounded by gar- 
dens traversed by spacious avenues and embellished with fount- 
ains and statuary, and you see at once that the order of things 
has been reversed, and that it tends now not merely to concen- 
tration, but to consolidation. I know not how othei-s may be 
affected by this tendency, but I confess that it moves me to do 



320 SELECTIONS. 

all that I can, by a fair construction of the constitution, not to 
abate the federal strength, and diminish the majesty of the 
Union, but to invigorate and aggrandize the states, and to ena- 
ble them to maintain their just equilibrium in our grand but 
exquisitely-contrived political system. — Speech in U. S. Senate 
on the 'Presidents Message vetoing the Bill granting Lands to the 
several States for the Relief of the Indigent Insane, June 19, 1854. 

Eijc S^iue 23nsis of Stmerican KnUepenlicttce, 

I AM far from supposing that we are signally deficient in in- 
dependence. I know that it is a national, an hereditary, and a 
popular sentiment ; that we annually celebrate, and always glory 
in our independence. We do so justly, for nowhere else does 
even a form or a shadow of popular independence exist ; while 
here it is the very rock on which our institutions rest. Never- 
theless, occasions for the exercise of this virtue may be neglected. 

We hold in contempt, equally just and profomid, him who im- 
poses, and him who wears, a menial livery ; and yet, I think, 
that we are accustomed to regard with no great severity, the 
employer who exacts, or the mechanic, clerk, or laborer, who 
yields, political conformity in consideration of wages. We in- 
sist, as Ave ought, that every citizen in the state shall be quali- 
fied by education for citizenship ; but we are by no means unan- 
imous that one citizen, or class of citizens, shall not prescribe its 
own creed, in the instruction of the children of others. We con- 
struct and remodel partisan formulas and platforms with chan- 
ging circumstances with almost as much diligence and versatility 
as the Mexicans ; and we attempt to enforce conformity to them, 
with scarcely less of zeal and intolerance, not indeed by the 
sword, but by the greater terror of political proscription. We 
resist argument, not always with argument, but often with per- 
sonal denunciation, and sometimes even with combined violence. 
We differ, indeed, as to the particular errors of political faith, 
that shall be corrected by this extreme remedy ; but, neverthe- 
less, the number of those Avho altogether deny its necessity and 
suitableness in some cases, is very small. 

We justly maintain that a free press is the palladium of lib- 
erty ; and yet, mutually proscribing all editorial independence 



MISCELLANEOUS. 321 

tlicat is manifested by opposition to onr own opinions, wc have 
only attained a press that is free in tlie sense that every inter- 
est, party, faction, or sect, can liave its own independent organ. 
If it be still maintained, notwithstanding these illustrations to 
the contrary, that entire social independence prevails, then, I 
ask, why is it so necessary to preserve with jealousy, as we 
justly do, the ballot, in lieu of open suffrage ; for if every citizen 
is really free from all fear and danger, Avliy should he mask his 
vote more than his face. Believe me, fellow-citizens, indepen- 
dence always languishes in the very degree that intolerance 
prevails. We smile at the vanity of the factory-girl at Lowell, 
who, having spent the secvdar part of the week in making calicoes 
for the use of her unsophisticated countrywomen, disdainfully 
arrays herself on Sundays exclusively in the tints of European 
dyes ; and yet, we are indifferent to the fact that beside a uni- 
versal consumption of foreign silks, excluding the silkworm from 
our country, we purchase, in England alone, one hundred and 
fifty millions of yards of the same stained muslins. We sustain, 
here and there, a rickety, or at best a contracted iron manufac- 
tory ; while we import iron to make railroads over our own end- 
less ore fields, and we carry our prejudices against our stniggling 
manufacturers and mechanics so far as to fastidiously avoid wear- 
ing on our persons, or using on our tables, or displaying in our 
drawing-rooms, any fabric, of whatsoever material, texture, or 
color, that, in the course of its manufacture, has to our best 
knowledge and belief, ever come in contact with the honest hand 
of an American citizen. In all this, we are less independent 
than the Englishman, the Frenchman, or even the Siberian, 

It is painful to confess the same infirmity in regard to intel- 
lectual productions. We despise, deeply and universally, the 
spoiled child of pretension, who, going abroad for education or 
observation, with a mind destitute of the philosophy of travel, 
returns to us with an affected tone and gait, sure indications of 
a craven spirit and a disloyal heart. And yet how intently do 
we not watch to see whether one of our countrymen obtains in 
Europe the honor of an aristocratic dinner, or of a presentation, 
in a grotesque costume, at court ! How do we not suspend our 
judgment on the merits of the native artist, be he dancer singer, 
actor, limner, or sculptor, and even of the native author, inven- 

14* 



322 SELECTIONS. 

tor, orator, bishop, or statesman, until, by flattering those who 
habitually depreciate his country, he passes safely the ordeal of 
foreign criticism, and so commends himself to our own most cau- 
tious approbation. How do we not consult foreign mirrors, for 
our very virtues and vices, not less than for our fashions, and 
think ignorance, bribery, and slavery, quite justified at home, if 
they can be matched against oppression, pauperism, and crime, 
in other countries ! 

On occasions too, we are bold in applauding heroic struggling 
for freedom abroad ; and we certainly have hailed with enthusi- 
asm every republican revolution in South America, in France, 
in Poland, in Germany, and in Hungary. And yet how does 
not our sympathy rise and fall, with every change of the political 
temperature in Europe 1 In just this extent, we are not only 
not independent, but we are actually governed by the monar- 
chies and aristocracies of the Old World. 

You may ask impatiently, if I require the American citizen to 
throw off all submission to law, all deference to authority, and 
all respect to the opinions of mankind, and that the American 
Hepublic shall constantly wage an aggressive war against all 
foreign systems 1 I answer, no. There is here, as everywhere, 
a middle and a safe way. I would have the American citizen 
yield always a cheerful acquiescence, and never a servile adhe- 
rence, to the opinions of the majority of his countrymen and of 
mankind, whether they be engrossed in the forms of law or not, 
on all questions involving no moral principle ; and even in regard 
to such as do affect the conscience, I would have him avoid not 
only faction, but even the appearance of it. But I demand, at 
the same time, that he shall have his own matured and indepen- 
dent convictions, the result not of any authority, domestic or 
foreign, on every measure of public policy, and so, that while 
always temperate and courteous, he shall always be a free and 
outspeaking censor, upon not only opinions, customs, and admin- 
istration, but even upon laws and constitutions themselves. 
What I thus require of the citizen, I insist, also, that he shall 
allow to every one of his fellow-citizens. I would have the 
nation also, though moderate and pacific, yet always frank, de- 
cided and firm, in bearing its testimony against error and oppres- 
sion ; and while abstaining from forcible intervention in foreign 



MISCELLANEOUS. 323 

disputes, yet always fearlessly rendering to the cnnse of republi- 
canism everywhere, by influence and example, all the aid that tlie 
laws of nations do not peremptorily, or, in their true spirit, forbid. 

Do I propose in this an heretical, or even a new standard of 
public or private duty ? All agree that the customary, and 
even the legal standards in other countiies are too low. Must 
we then abide by them now and forever? That would be to 
yield our independence, and to be false toward mankind. Who 
will maintain that the standard established at any one time by 
a majority in our country is infallible, and therefore final ? If 
it be so, why have we reserved, by our constitution, freedom of 
speech, of the press, and of suffrage, to reverse it ? No, we may 
change every thing, first complying, however, with constitutional 
conditions. Storms and 'commotions must indeed be avoided, 
but the political waters must nevertheless be agitated always, 
or they will stagnate. Let no one suppose that the human mind 
will consent to rest in error. It vibrates, however, only that it 
may settle at last in immutable truth and justice. Nor need we 
fear that we shall be too bold. Conformity is always easier than 
contention ; and imitation is always easier than innovation. 
There are many who delight in ease, where there is one who 
chooses, and fearlessly pursues, the path of heroic duty. 

Moreover, while we are expecting hopefully to see foreign cus- 
toms and institutions brought, by the influence of commerce, into 
conformity with our own, it is quite manifest that commerce has 
reciprocating influences, tending to demoralize ourselves, and so 
to assimilate our opinions, manners, and customs, ultimately to 
those of aristocracy and despotism. We can not afford to err at 
all on that side. We exist as a free people only by force of our 
very peculiarities. They are the legitimate peculiarities of re- 
publicanism, and, as such, are the test of nationality. 

Nationality ! It is as just as it is popular. Whatever policy, 
interest, or institution, is local, sectional, or foreign, must be zeal- 
ously watched and counteracted ; for it tends directly to social 
derangement, and so to the subversion of our democratic con- 
stitution. 

But it is seen at once that this nationality is identical with 
that very political independence which results from a high tone 
of inclividunlity on the part of the citizen. Let it have free pl.ny, 



324 SELECTIONS. 

then, and so let every citizen value himself at his just worth, in 
body and soul ; namely, not a serf or a subject of any human 
authority, or the inferior of any class, however great or wise, but 
a freeman, who is so because " Truth has made him free ;" who 
not only, equally with all others, rules in the republic, but is 
also bound, equally with any other, to exercise designing wis- 
dom and executive vigor and efficiency in the eternal duty of 
saving and perfecting the state. When this nationality shall 
prevail, we shall no more see fashion, wealth, social rank, politi- 
cal combination, or even official proscription, effective in suppres- 
sing the utterance of mature opinions and true convictions ; and 
so enforcing for brief periods, with long reactions, political con- 
formity, at the hazard of the public welfare, and at the cost of 

the public virtue 

Let this nationality prevail, and then we shall cease to under- 
value our own farmers, mechanics, and manufacturers, and their 
productions ; our own science, and literature, and inventions ; our 
own orators and statesmen ; in short, our own infinite resources 
and all-competent skill, our own virtue, and our own peculiar 
and justly envied freedom. — Address, American Institute, N. Y., 
Oct. 20, 1853 

The first want of every nation is peace, the last is peace. It 
wants peace always. So our forefathers understood the philos- 
ophy of government ; for they established a system which dis- 
pensed with even the forces necessary for perfect defence, rather 
than cumber it with such as might tempt it to unnecessary collis- 
ion with other states. A democratic government has no adap- 
tation to war. "War involves a nation in debt, and requires vast 
supplies of men and taxes, and self-taxing people will not, except 
when absolutely obliged by the exigencies of danger, vote either 
one or the other. Our government has not effective powers of 
conscription. No modem state has carried on, or can carry on, 
aggressive war without conscription. War, however brief its 
duration, and however light its calamities, deranges all social 
industry, subverts order and corrupts public morals. The first 
element, then, of our social happiness and security is Peace. — 
Speech, Oct. 29, 1844. 



ORATIONS AND SPEECHES, 



THE DESTINY OF AMERICA.* 



This scene is new to me, a stmnger in Oliio, and it must be 
in a degree surpiising even to yourselves. On these banks of 
the Scioto, where the elk, the buffalo, and the hissing serpent 
haunted not long ago, I see now mills worked by mute mechan- 
ical laborers, and warehouses rich in the merchandise of many 
climes. Steeds of vapor on iron roads and electrical messengers 
on pathways which di^^de the air, attest the concentration of many 
novel forms of industry, while academic groves, spacious courts, 
and majestic domes, exact the reverence always eminently due 
to the chosen seats of philosophy, religion, and government. 

What a change, moreover, has within the same short period 
come over the whole country that we love so justly and so well. 
High arcs of latitude and longitude have shrunk into their 
chords, and American language, laws, religion, and authority, 
once confined to the Atlantic coast, now prevail from the north- 
ern lakes to the southern gulf, and from the stormy eastern sea 
to the tranquil western ocean. 

Nevertheless it is not in man's nature to be content with pres- 
ent attainment or enjoyment. You say to me therefore with 
excusable impatience, " Tell us not what our country is, but 
what she shall be. Shall her greatness increase 1 Is she im- 
mortal ?" 

I will answer you according to my poor opinion. But I pray 
j-ou first, most worthy friends, to define the greatness and immor- 
tality you so vehemently desire. 

* Oi-ation at the Dedication of Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, Sep- 
tember 14, 1853. 



328 ORATION. 

If the Future whicli you seek consists in this; that these 
thirty-one states shall continue to exist for a period as long as 
human foresight is allowed to anticipate after coming events ; 
that they shall he all the while free ; that they shall remain dis- 
tinct and independent in domestic economy, and nevertheless be 
only one in commerce and foreign affairs ; that there shall arise 
from among them and within their common domain even more 
than thirty-one other equal states, alike free, independent, and 
united ; that the borders of the federal republic so peculiarly 
constituted shall be extended so that it shall greet the sun when 
he touches the tropic, and when he sends his glancing rays 
toward the polar circle, and shall include even distant islands 
in either ocean ; that our population, now counted by tens of 
millions, shall ultimately be reckoned by hundreds of millions ; 
that our wealth shall increase a thousand fold, and our commer- 
cial connections shall be multiplied, and our pohtical influence 
be enhanced in proportion with this Avide development, and that 
mankind shall come to recognise in us a successor of the few 
great states which have alternately borne commanding sway in 
the world — if this, and only this is desired, then I am free to 
say that if, as you will readily promise, our public and private 
virtues shall be preserved, nothing seems to me more certain 
than the attainment of this future, so surpassingly comprehen- 
sive and magnificent. 

Indeed, such a future seems to be only a natural consequence 
of what has already been secured. Why then shall it not be 
attained ? Is not the field as free for the expansion indicated 
as it was for that which has occurred ? Are not the national 
resources immeasurably augmented and continually increasing ? 
With telegraphs and railroads crossing the Detroit, the Niagara, 
the St. Johns, and the St. Lawrence rivers, with steamers on the 
lakes of Nicaragua, and a railroad across the isthmus of Pan- 
ama, and with negotiations in progress for passages over Te- 
huantepec and Darien, with a fleet in Hudson's bay and another 
at Bhering's straits, and with yet another exploring the La 
Plata, and with an armada at the gates of Japan, with Mexico 
ready to divide on the question of annexation, and with the 
Sandwich islands suing to us for our sovereignty, it is quite clear 
to us that the motives to enlaro-ement are even more active than 



THE DESTINY OF AMERICA. 829 

they ever were heretofore, and that tlie pubhc energies, instead 
of being reLaxed, are gaining new vigor. 

Is the nation to become suddenly Aveary and so to waver and 
fall off from the pursuit of its high purposes 1 Wiien did any 
vigorous nation every become weary even of hazardous and ex- 
hausting martial conquests 1 Our conquests on the contrary, are 
chiefly peaceful, and thus far have proved productive of new 
wealth and strength. Is a paralysis to fall upon the national 
brain 1 On the contrary, what political constitution has ever 
throughout an equal period exhibited greater elasticity and ca- 
pacity for endurance 1 

' Is the union of the states to fail ? Does its strength indeed 
grow less with the multiplication of its bonds ? Or does its 
value diminish with the increase of the social and political inter- 
ests which it defends and protects ? Far otherwise. For all 
practical purposes bearing on the great question, the steam en- 
gine, the iron road, the electric telegraph, all of which are newer 
than the Union, and the metropolitan press, which is no less won- 
derful in its working than they, have already obliterated state 
boundaries and produced a physical and moral centralism more 
complete and perfect than monarchical ambition ever has forged 
or can forge. Do you reply nevertheless that the Union rests on 
the will of the several states, and that, no matter what pnidence 
or reason may dictate, popular passion may become excited and 
rend it asunder. Then I rejoin. When did the American people 
ever give way to such irapidses 1 They are practically impassive. 
You remind me that faction has existed, and that only recently 
it was bold and violent. I answer that it was emboldened by 
popular timidity, and yet that even then it succumbed. Loyalty 
to the Union is not in one or many states only, but in all the 
states, the strongest of all pubKc passions. It is stronger, I doubt 
not, than the love of justice or even the love of equality, which 
have acquired a strength here never known among mankind be- 
fore. A nation may well despise threats of sedition that has never 
known but one traitor, and this will be learned fully by those 
who shall hereafter attempt to arrest any great national move- 
ment by invoking from their grave the obsolete terrors of 
disunion. 

But you apprehend foreign resistance. Well, where is our 



330 ORATION. 

enemy ? Whence shall he come 1 Will he arise on this conti- 
nent? Canada has great resources and begins to give signs 
of a national spirit. But Canada is not yet independent of 
Great Britain. And she will be quite too weak to be formida- 
ble to us when her emancipation shall have taken place. More- 
over, her principles, interests, and sympathies, assimilate to our 
own just in the degree that she verges toward separation from 
the parent country. Canada, although a province of Great Brit- 
ain, is already half annexed to the United States. She will 
ultimately become a member of this confederacy if we will con- 
sent, an ally if we will not allow her to come nearer. At least 
she can never be an adversary. Will Mexico, or Nicaragua, or 
Guatemala, or Ecuador, or Peru, all at once become magically 
cured of the diseases inherited from aboriginal and Spanish pa- 
rentage, and call up armies from under the earth and navies 
from the depths of the sea, and thus become the Rome that 
shall resist and overthrow this overspreading Carthage of ours ? 
Or are we to .receive our death-stroke at the hand of Brazil, 
doubly cursed as she is above all other American states by her 
adoption of the two most absurd institutions remaining among 
men, European monarchy and American slavery. 

Is an enemy to come forth from the islands in adjacent seas ? 
Where then shall Ave look for him ? On the Antilles, or on the 
Bermudas, or on the Bahamas 1 Which of the conflicting social 
elements existing together, yet unmixed, there, is ultimately to 
prevail ? Will it be Caucasian or African ? Can those races not 
only combine but become all at once aggressive and powerful ? 

Shall we look for an adversary in Europe 1 Napoleon said at 
St. Helena, "America is a fortunate country. She grows by 
the follies of our European nations." Since when have those 
nations grown wise 1 If they have at last become wise, how is 
it that America has nevertheless not ceased to grow ? But what 
European state will oppose us ? Will Great Britain ? If she 
fears to grapple with Russia advancing toward Constantinople on 
the way to India, though not only her prestige, but even her 
empire is threatened, will she be bold enough to come out of 
her way to seek an encounter with us 1 Who will feed and pay 
her artisans while she shall be engaged in destroying her Amer- 
ican debtors and the American consumers of her fabrics ? Great 



THE DESTINY OP AMERICA. 331 

Britain has enough to do in replaciiii;: in Ircljuul tlic population 
that island has yielded to us, in suhjecting Africa, in extondinj; 
her mercantile dominion in Asia, and in perpetually readjusting 
the crazy balance of power in Europe, so essential to her safety. 
We have fraternal relations with Switzerland, the only republic 
yet lingering on that continent. Which of the despotic powers 
existing there in perpetual terror of the contagion of American 
principles will assail us and thus voluntarily hasten on that uni- 
versal war of opinion which is sure to come at some future time, 
and which whenever it shall have come, whether it be sooner 
or later, can end only in the subversion of monarchy and the 
establishment of republicanism on its ruins throughout the world 1 

Certainly no one expects the nations of Asia to be awakened 
by any other influences than our OAvn from the lethargy into 
which they sunk nearly three thousand years ago, under the 
spells of superstition and caste. If they could be roused and 
invigorated now, would they spare their European oppressors 
and smite their American benefactors ? Nor has the time yet 
come, if indeed it shall come within many hundred years, wlien 
Africa, emerging from her primeval barbarism, shall vindicate 
the equality of her sable races in the rights of human nature, 
and visit upon us the latest, the least guilty and the most re- 
pentant of all offenders, the wrongs she has so long suffered at 
the hands of so many of the Caucasian races. 

No ! no, we can not indeed penetrate the eternal counsels, but 
reasoning from what is seen to what is unseen, deducing from 
the past probable conjectures of the future, we are authorized to 
conclude that if the national virtue shall prove sufficient the 
material progress of the United States which equally excites our 
own pride and the admiration of mankhul, is destined to indefi- 
nite continuance. 

But is this material progress even to the point which has been 
indicated the whole of the future which we desire ? It is seen 
at once that it includes no high intellectual achievement, and no 
extraordinary refinement of public virtue, while it leaves entirely 
out of view the improvement of mankind. Now there certainly 
is a political philosophy which teaches that nations like individ- 
uals are equal, moral, social, responsible persons, existing not for 
objects of merely selfish advantage and enjoyment, but for the 



332 ORATION. 

performance of duty, wliicli duty consists in elevating themselves 
and all mankind as high as possible in knowledge and virtue ; 
that the human race is one in its origin, its rights, its duties, and 
its destiny, that throughout the rise, progress, and decline of 
nations, one divine purpose runs — the increasing felicity and 
dignity of human nature — and that true greatness or glory, 
whether of individuals or of nations, is justly measured, not by 
the territory they compass, or the wealth they accumulate, or 
the fear they inspire, but by the degree in which they promote 
the accomplishment of that great and beneficent design of the 
Creator of the universe. 

" The great end and object of life," said Socrates, " is the per- 
fection of the intellect, the great moral duty of man is knowledge, 
and the object of all knowledge is one, namely, Truth, the Good, 
the Beautiful, the Divine Reason." 

So also Plato taught that " Man ought to strive after and de- 
vote himself to the contemplation of the One, the Eternal, the 
Infinite." 

Cicero wrote, " There are those who deny that any bond of 
law or of association for purposes of common good exists among 
citizens. This opinion subverts all union in a state. There are 
those who deny that any such bond exists between themselves 
and strangers, and this opinion destroys the community of the 
Human Eace." 

Bacon declared that there was in man's nature " a secret love 
of others, which if not contracted, would expand and embrace 
all men." 

These maxims proceed on the principle of the unity of the 
race, and of course of a supreme law regulating the conduct of 
men and nations upon the basis of absolute justice and equality. 
Locke adopted them when he inculcated that while there was a 
" law of popular opinion or reputation," which in society was 
** the measure of virtue and vice," and while there was a civil 
law which in the state was " the measure of crime and inno- 
cence," there was also a divine law which extended over " all 
society and all states, and which was the only touchstone of 
moral rectitude." 

Guizot closed his recital of the decline of Koman civilization, 
with these ecpally true and momentous reflections ; " Hnd not 



THE DESTINY OF AMERICA. ' 333 

the Christian church existed at this time tlie whole Avorld must 
have fallen a prey to mere brute force. The Christian church 
alone possessed a moral poAver. It maintained and promulgated 
the idea of a precept, of a law superior to all human authority. 
It proclaimed that great truth, Avhich forms the only foundation 
of our hope for humanity, that there exists a law above all hu- 
man laws, which by whatever name it may be called, whether 
reason, the law of God, or what not, is at all times and in all. 
places the same, under different names." 

It ought not to excite any surprise when I aver that this phi- 
losophy worked out the American Revolution. " Can anything," 
said John Adams, in replying to one who had apologized for the 
stamp-act, — *' Can anything not abominable have provoked j^ou 
to commence, an enemy to human nature 1" 

Alexander Hamilton, though less necessary to the Revolution 
than John Adams, was even more necessary to the reconstruc- 
tion of society. He directed against the same odious stamp-act 
the authority of British law as he found it written down by 
Blackstone. " The law of nature being coeval with God him- 
self is of course superior to any other. It is binding over all 
the globe, in all countries, and at all time. No human laws are 
of any validity if contrary to this ; and such of them as are valid 
derive all their authority mediately or immediately from this 
original." Then, as if despising to stand on any mere human 
authority, however high, the framer of the American constitu- 
tion proceeded, " The sacred rights of mankind are not to be 
rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They 
are written as with a sunbeam in the whole volume of human 
nature, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power." 

How justly Knox conceived the true character of the chief 
personage of the Revolution, even at its very beginning, " The 
great and good Washington, a name which shall shine with dis- 
tinguished lustre in the annals of history, a name dear to the 
friends of the liberties of mankind." 

La Fayette closed his review of the Revolution when return- 
ing to France with this glowing apostrophe : " May this great 
temple which we have just erected to liberty always be an in- 
struction to oppressors, an example to the oppressed, a refuge 



334 ORATION. 

for the rights of the human race, and an object of delight to the 
manes of its founders." 

" Happy," said Washington when announcing the treaty of 
peace to the army, " thrice happy shall they be pronounced here- 
after, who shall have contributed anything, who shall have per- 
formed even the meanest office in erecting this stupendous fabric 
of freedom and empire on the broad basis of independency, who 
shall have assisted in protecting the rights of human nature and 
establishing an asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations 
and religions." 

You remember well that the Revolutionary Congress in the 
Declaration of Independence placed the momentous controversy 
between the colonies of Great Britain on the absolute and inhe- 
rent equality of all men. It is not however so well understood 
that that body closed its existence on the adoption of the federal 
constitution with this solemn injunction addressed to the People 
of the United States, " Let it be remembered that it has ever 
been the pride and boast of America, that the rights for which 
she contended were the rights of human nature." 

No one will contend that our fathers after effecting the Revo- 
lution and the independence of their country by proclaiming this 
system of beneficent political philosophy, established an entirely 
different one in the constitution assigned to its government. This 
philosophy then, is the basis of the American constitution. 

It is moreover a true philosophy, deduced from the nature of 
man and the character of the Creator. If there were no supreme 
law, then the world would be a scene of universal anarchy, re- 
sulting from the eternal conflict of peculiar institutions and an- 
tagonistic laws. There being such a universal law, if any hu- 
man constitutions and laws differing from it could have any 
authority, then that universal law could not be supreme. That 
supreme law is necessarily based on the equality of nations of 
races and of men. It is a simple, self-evident basis. One na- 
tion, race, or individual, may not oppress or injure another, be- 
cause the safety and welfare of each is essential to the common 
safety and welfare of all. If all are not equal and free, then 
who is entitled to be free, and what evidence of his superiority 
can he bring from nature or revelation 1 All men necessarily 
have a common interest in the promulgation and maintenance 



THE DESTINY OF AMERICA. - 835 

of these principles, because it is equally in the nature of men to 
be content with the enjoyment of their just rights, and to bo dis- 
contented under the privation of them. Just so far as these 
principles practically prevail, the stringency of government is 
safely relaxed, and peace and harmony obtained. But men can 
not maintain these principles, or even comprehend them, with- 
out a very considerable advance in knowledge and virtue. The 
law of nations, designed to preserve peace among mankind, was 
unknown to the ancients. It has been perfected in our owti 
times by means of the more general dissemination of knowledge 
and practice of the virtues inculcated by Christianity. To dis- 
seminate knowledge and to increase virtue therefore among men, 
is to establish and maintain the principles on which the recovery 
and preservation of their inherent natural rights depend, and the 
state that does this most faithfully, advances most effectually the 
common cause of human nature. 

For myself, I am sure that this cause is not a dream, but a 
reality. Have not all men consciousness of a property in the 
memory of human transactions available for the same great pur 
poses, the security of their individual rights and the perfection 
of their individual happiness'? Have not all men a conscious- 
ness of the same equal interest in the achievements of invention, 
in the instructions of philosophy, and in the solaces of music 
and the arts ? And do not these achievements, instructions, and 
solaces, exert everywhere the same influences, and produce the 
same emotions in the bosoms of all men % Since all languages 
are convertible into each other by correspondence with the same 
agents, objects, actions, and emotions, have not all men practi- 
cally one common language ? Since the constitutions and laws 
of all societies are only so many various definitions of the rights 
and duties of men, as those rights and duties are learned from 
nature and revelation, have not all men practically one code of 
moral duty % Since the religions of men in their various climes 
are only so many different forms of their devotion toward a 
Supreme and Almighty Power entitled to their reverence and 
receiving it under the various names of Jehovah, Jove, and 
Lord, have not all men practically one religion ? Since all men 
are seeking liberty and happiness for a season here, and to de- 
serve and so to secure more perfect liberty and happiness some 



336 ORATION. 

where in a future world, and since they all substantially agree 
that these temporal and spiritual objects are to be attained only 
through the knowledge of truth and the practice of virtue, have 
not mankind practically one common pursuit, through one com- 
mon way, of one common and equal hope and destiny ? 

If there had been no such common humanity as I have in- 
sisted upon, then the American people would not have enjoyed 
the sympathies of mankind when establishing institutions of 
civil and religious liberty here, nor would their establishment here 
have awakened in the nations of Europe and of South America 
desires and hopes of similar institutions there. If there had 
been no such common humanity, then we should not, ever since 
the American Revolution, have seen human society throughout 
the world divided into two parties, the high and the low — the 
one perpetually foreboding and earnestly hoping the downfall, 
and the other as confidently predicting and as sincerely desiring 
the durability, of republican institutions. If there had been 
no such common humanity, then we should not have seen this 
tide of emigration from insular and continental Europe, flowing 
into our country through the channels of the St. Lawrence, the 
Hudson, and the Mississippi — ebbing, however, always with 
the occasional rise of the hopes of freedom abroad, and always 
swelHng again into greater volume when those premature hopes 
subside. If there Avere no such common humanity, then the 
peasantry and the poor of Great Britain would not be perpet- 
ually appealing to us against the oppression of landlords on 
their farms and workmasters in their manufactories and mines : 
and so, on the other hand, we should not be, as we are now, 
perpetually framing apologies to mankind for the continuance 
of African slavery among ourselves. If there were no such 
common humanity, then the fame of Wallace would have long 
ago died away in his native mountains, and the name even of 
Washington would at most have been only a household word in 
Virginia, and not, as it is now, a watchword of hope and prog- 
ress throughout the world. 

If there had been no such common humanity, then when the 
civilization of Greece and Rome had been consumed by the fires 
of human passion, the nations of modern Europe could never 
have gathered from among its ashes the philosophy, the arts, 



THE DESTINY OF AMERICA. 337 

and the religion, wliicli were imperishable, and have recon- 
structed with those materials that better civilization which, amid 
the conflicts and fall of political and ecclesiastical systems, has 
been constantly advancing toward perfection in every succeed- 
ing age. If there had been no such common humanity, then the 
dark and massive Egyptian obelisk would not have everywhere 
reappeared in the sepulchral architecture of our own times, and 
the light and graceful orders of Greece and Italy would not, as 
now, have been the models of our villas and our dwellings, nor 
would the simple and lofty arch and the delicate tracery of 
Gothic design have been, as it now is, everywhere consecrated 
to the service of religion. 

If there had been no such common humanity, then would the 
sense of the obligation of the Decalogue have been confined to 
the despised nation who received it from Mount Sinai, and the 
prophecies of Jewish seers and the songs of Jewish bards would 
have perished for ever with their temple, and never afterward 
could they have become, as they now are, the universal utter- 
ance of the spiritual emotions and hopes of mankind. If there 
had been no such common humanity, then certainly Europe and 
Africa and even new America would not, after the lapse of cen- 
turies, have recognised a common Redeemer from all the suffer- 
ings and perils of human life in a culprit who had been igno- 
miniously executed in the obscure Eoman province of Judea ; 
nor w^ould Europe have ever gone up in arms to Palestine to 
wrest from the unbelieving Turk the tomb where that culprit 
had slept for only three days and nights after his descent from 
the cross; much less would his traditionary instructions, pre- 
served by fishermen and publicans, have become the chief 
agency in the renovation of human society through after-coming 
ages. 

But, although this philosophy is undeniably true, yet it would 
be a great error to believe that it has ever been, or is likely 
soon to be, uniTersally accepted. Mankind accept philosophy 
just in proportion as intellectual and moral cultivation enable 
them to look through proximate to ultimate consequences. 
While they are deficient in that cultivation, peace and order, 
essential to the very existence of society, are necessarily main- 
tained by force. Those who employ that force seek to perpet- 

15 



338 ORATION. 

uate their power, and they do this most effectually by divldinc^ 
classes and castes, races and nations, and arraying them for 
mutual injury or destruction against each other. Despotism 
effects and perpetuates this division by unequal laws, subversive 
of those of reason and of God. Moreover, a common instinct 
of fear combines the oppressors of all nations in a league against 
the advance of that political philosophy which comes to liberate 
mankind. Those who inculcate this philosophy, therefore, neces- 
sarily encounter opposition and expose themselves to danger ; 
and inasmuch as they labor from convictions of duty and mo- 
tives of benevolence, with such hazards of personal safety, their 
principles and character are justly regarded as heroic. Adams, 
Hamilton, La Fayette, Knox, and Washington, although they 
were the champions of human nature — a cause dear to all men — ■ 
were saved from the revolutionary scaffold only by the success 
of their treason against a king whom the very necessities of 
society required to reign. Milton's " Defence of the People of 
England," which Avas in truth a promulgation of the same phi- 
losophy whicli we have been examining, v/as burned by the 
public executioner, and its immortal author only by good fortune 
escaped the same punishment. The American colonists derived 
this philosophy chiefly from the instructions of Locke, Sidney, 
and Vane. Locke fled into exile, and Sidney and Vane per- 
ished as felons. Cicero, an earlier professor of the same philos- 
ophy, fell on the sword of a public assassin, and Socrates, who 
first inculcated it, drank the fatal hemlock, under a judicial sen- 
tence, in the jail of Athens. 

Still this philosophy, although heroic, is by no means, there- 
fore, to be regarded as unnecessary and visionary. The true 
heroic in human thought and conduct is only the useful in the 
higher regions of speculation and activity. If republicanism, or 
purely popular government, is the only form of political consti- 
tution whicli permits the development of liberty and equality, 
which are only other names for political justice, and if republi- 
canism can only be established by the overthrow of despotism, 
then this philosophy is absolutely necessary to effect the free- , 
dom of mankind. All the citizens of this republic agree with i 
us thus far. But with many this is rather a speculation than a 
vital faith, and so they hesitate to allow full activity to the prin- 



THE DESTINY OF AMEltlCA. 339 

ciples thus acknowledged, through fear of disturbing the liar- 
monj of society and the peace of the world. Nevertheless, it 
iis clear that the same philosophy which brings republican insti- 
tutions into existence must be exclusivel}- relied upon to defend 
and perpetuate them. A tree may indeed stand and grow and 
flourish for many seasons, although it is unsound at the heart ; 
but just because it is so unsound, its leaves will ultimately wither, 
its branches will fall, and its trunk will decay. It is only tlic 
house that is built upon the rock that can surely and for ever 
defy the tempests and the waves.. The founders of this repub- 
lic knew this great truth right well, for they said : " If justice, 
Igood faith, honor, gratitude, and all the other qualities which 
ennoble a nation and fulfil the ends of government, shall be the 
fruits of our establishments, then the cause of liberty will ac- 
|C[uire a dignity and a lustre which it has never yet enjoyed, and 
Ian example will be set which can not but have the most favor- 
able influence on mankind. If, on the other side, our govern- 
ments should be unfortunately blotted with the reverse of these 
cardinal virtues, then the great cause which we have engaged 
to vindicate will be dishonored and betrayed. The last and 
[Ifairest experiment of human nature 'svill be turned against them, 
knd their patrons and friends will be silenced by the insults of 
[Jthe votaries of tyranny and oppression."* 

The example of Rome is often commended to us for our emu- 
jlation. Let us consider it then with becoming care. Home had 
jindeed forms of religion and morals and a show of philosophy 
|and the arts, but in none of these was there more than the faint- 
est recognition of a universal humanity. Her predecessor, 
Greece, had, in a brilliant but brief and precocious career, in- 
Svcnted the worship of nature, or, in other words, the worship 
jof deities, which were only names given to the discovered forces 
of nature. This religion did not indeed exalt the human mind 
,to a just conception of the Divine, but, on the other hand, it did 
not altogether consign it to the sphere of sensuality. Rome 
unfortunately rejected even this poor religion, because it was for- 
eign and because it was too spiritual; and in its stead she es- 
tablished one which practically was the worship of the state it- 
self. The senate elected gods for Rome, and these were ex- 
* Address of the Continental Congress, 1769. 



340 ORATION. 

pected to reward that distinguished partiahty by showing pecu- 
liar and discriminating favor to the people of Rome, and the 
same political authority appointed creed, precepts, ritual, and 
priesthood. Does it need amplification to show what the char- 
acter of the creed, the precepts, the ritual, and the priesthood, 
thus established necessarily were ? All were equally licentious 
and corrupt. 

As was the religion, so of course were the morals of Rome. 
Ambition was the sole motive of the state. At first every town 
in Italy, and afterward every nation, however remote, was re- 
garded as an enemy to be conquered, not in retaliation for any 
injuries received, nor even for the purpose of amending its bar- 
barous institutions and laws, but to be despoiled and enslaved, 
that Rome might be rich and might occupy the world alone. 
Fraud, duplicity, and treachery, might be practised against the 
foreigner, and every form of cruelty might be inflicted upon the 
captive who had resisted in self-defence or in defence of his 
country. Military valor not only became the highest of virtues 
but exclusively usurped the name of virtue. The act of parri- 
cide was the highest of crimes, not however because of its gross 
inhumanity, but because by a legal fiction the father was a sa- 
cred type of the Roman state. The sway of Rome, as it spread 
over the world as then known, nevertheless gravitated toward 
the city and centred in the order of Patricians. The Plebeians 
were degraded and despised because their ancestors were immi- 
grants. Below the Plebeians there was yet a lower order, con- 
sisting of prisoners-of-war and their ofispring, always numerous 
enough to endanger the safety of the state. These Avere slaves, 
and the code of domestic servitude established for the captured 
Africans and their descendants in some parts of our own country 
is a meliorated edition of that which Rome maintained for the 
government of slaves as various in nation, language, and religion, 
as the enemies she conquered. These orders, mutally hostile 
and aggressive, were kept asunder by discriminating laws and 
carefully-cherished prejudices. The Patricians divided the pub- 
lic domain among themselves, although Plebeian blood was 
shed as profusely as their own in acquiring it. The Patricians 
alone administered justice, and they even kept the forms of its 
administration a profound mystery sealed against the knowledge 



THE DESTINY OF AMERICA. 841 

of those for wliose safety and v.elfare the laws exisfoch 'Jlie 
Plebeian conld approach the courts only as a client in the foot- 
steps of a Patrician patron, and for his aid in obtaining that jus- 
tice which of course was an absolute debt of the state the Patri- 
cian was entitled to the support of his client in every enterprise 
of personal interest and ambition. Thus did Rome, while en- 
slaving the world, blindly prepare the machinery for her own 
overthrow by the agency of domestic factions. Industry in 
Rome' was dishonored. The Plebeians labored Avith the slaves. 
Patricians scorned all employments but that of agriculture and 
the service of the state. And so Rome rejected commerce and 
the arts. The person of the Patrician was inviolable, while the 
Plebeian forfeited liberty and for a long period even life by the 
failure to pay debts Avhich his very necessities obliged him to 
contract. The slaves held their lives by the tenure of their 
master's' forbearance, and what that forbearance was we learn 
from the fact that they arrayed the slaves against each other, 
when trained as gladiators, in mortal combat for the gratification 
of their own pride and the amusement of the people. Punish- 
ments Avere graduated, not by the inherent turpitude of the crimes 
committed, nor by the injury or danger resulting from them to 
the state, but by the rank of the offender. What was that Ro- 
man liberty of Avhicli in such general and captivating descrip- 
tions we read so much ? The Patrician enjoyed a licentious 
freedom, the Plebeian an uncertain and humiliating one, extorted 
from the higher order by perpetual practices of sedition. Ac- 
cording to the modern understanding of popular rights and char- 
acter, there was no people in Rome. So at least we learn from 
Cicero : " No7i est enim consilium in viilgo. Non ratio, non dis- 
crimen, non diligcntia. Scmjycrque sainenter ea qua^ poj)//bis 
Jerenda non laudanda.'^ 

The domestic affections were stifled in that Avild society. The 
wife was a slave and might be beaten, transferred to another 
lord, or divorced at pleasure. The father sleAv his children 
whenever their care and support became irksome, and the state 
approved the act. In such a society the rich and great of course 
grew ahvays richer and greater, and the poor and low ahvayy 
poorer and more debased ; and yet throughout all her long ca- 
reer did Rome never establish one public charity, nor has his- 



342 ORATION. 

toiy preserved any memorable instances of private benevolence. 
Such was the life of Eome under her kings and consuls. She 
attained the end of her ambition, and became, as her historian 
truly boasts, ^^ Populus Ro?nanus victor dominusque omnium gen- 
tium.^' But at the same time the city trembled always at the 
very breathing of popular discontent, and every citizen and even 
the senate, generals, and consuls, were every hour the slaves of 
superstitious fears of the withdrawal of the favor of the gods. 
The people sighing for milder and more genial laws, after the 
lapse of many centuries recovered the lost code which the good 
king Numa had received from the goddess Egeria. Do we 
wonder that the senate interdicted its publication, lest it might 
produce agitation dangerous to the public peace ? Or can we 
be surprised when we read that Cicero, whose philosophy was 
only less than divine, when he found that the republic was ac- 
tually falling into ruins, implored his new academy to be* silent ? 

You know well the prolonged but fearful catastrophe, the civil 
and the servile wars, the dictatorship, the usurpation, the em- 
pire, the military despotism, the insurrections in the provinces, 
the invasion by barbarians, the division and the dismemberment 
and the fall of the state, tlie extinction of the Roman name, lan- 
guage, and laws, and the destruction of society, and even civili- 
zation itself, not only in Ital}^ but througliout the world, and the 
consequent darkness which overshadowed the earth throughout 
seven centuries. This is the moral of a state whose material life 
is stimulated and perfected, while its spiritual life is neglected 
and extinguished. 

And now it is seen tliat the future which we ought to desire 
for our country involves besides merely physical prosperity and 
aggrandizement, corresponding intellectual development and ad- 
vancement in virtue also. Has our spiritual life hitherto improved 
equally with our material growth % 

It is not easy to answer the question. We were at first a 
small and nearly a homogeneous people. We are now eight 
times more numerous, and we have incorporated large and vari- 
ous foreign elements in our society. We were originally a ru- 
ral and agricultural people. Now one seventh of our population 
is found in manufacturing toAvns and commercial cities. We 
then were poor, and lived in constant apprehension of domestic 



THE DESTINY OF AMERICA. 348 

disorder and of foreign danger, and wg were at the same, time 
distrustful of the capacity and stability of our novel instituti«»ns. 
We are now relatively rich, and all those doubts and fears liavo 
vanished. We must make allowance for tliis great change of 
circumstances, and we must remember also that it is the charac- 
ter of the great mass of society now existing that is to be com- 
pared with, not the lieroic models of the revolutionary age, but 
witli society at large as it then existed. 

It is certain that society has not declined. Religion has, in- 
deed, lost some of its ancient austerity, but waiving the question 
whether asceticism is a just test of religion, we may safely say 
that the change which has occurred is only a compromise with 
foreign elements of religion, for who will deny that those elements 
are purer and more spiritual here than the systems existing abroad 
from which they have been derived ] Nor can it be denied that 
while the ecclesiastical systems existing among us have been, 
with even more than our rigorous early jealousy, kept distinct 
and separate from the political conduct of the state, religious in- 
stitutions have been midtiplied relatively with the advance of 
settlement and population, and are everywhere well and effectu- 
ally sustained. At the era of independence we had little intel- 
lectual reputation, except what a bold and successful metaphysi- 
cian and a vigorous explorer in natural philosophy had won for 
us. We have now, I think, a recognised and respectable rank 
in the republic of letters. It Is true, indeed, that we have 
produced few great works in speculative science and polite 
literature ; but those are not the departments which, during 
the last half century have chiefly engaged the human mind. 
A long season of political reform and recovery from exhausting 
wars has necessarily required intellectual activity in reducing 
into use the discoveries before made ; and we may justly claim 
that in applying the elements of science to the improvement and 
advancement of agriculture, art, and commerce, we have not 
been surpassed. 

I do not seek to disguise from myself, nor from you, the ex- 
istence of a growing passion for territorial aggrandizement, 
which often exhibits a gross disregard of justice and humanity. 
Nevertheless, I am not one of those who think that the temper 
of the nation has become already unsettled. Accidents favor- 



344 ORATION. 

ing the indulgence of that passion, have been met with a degree 
of self-denial that no other nation ever practised. Aggrandize- 
ment has been incidental, while society has nevertheless be- 
stowed its chief care on developments of natural resources, re- 
forms of political constitutions, melioration of codes, the diffusion 
of knowledge, and the cultivation of virtue. If this benign pol- 
icy hns been chiefly exercised within the domain of state au- 
thority, and has not reached our federal system, the explanation 
is obvious ui the facts that the popular will is by virtue of the 
federal constitution, slower in reaching that system, and that we 
inherited fears which seemed patriotic, of the danger of sever- 
ance of the Union, to result from innovation. If we have not in 
the federal government forsaken as widely as we ought to have 
done, systems of administration borrowed from countries where 
liberty was either unknown or was greatly abridged, and so 
have maintained armies, and navies, and diplomacy, on a scale 
of unnecessary grandeur and ostentation, it can hardly be con- 
tended that they have in any great degree corrupted the public 
virtue. Inquiry is now more active than it has heretofore been, 
and it may not be doubted that the federal action will hereafter, 
though with such moderation as will produce no danger and jus- 
tify no alarm, be made to conform to the sentiments of prudence, 
enterprise, justice, and humanity, which prevail among the 
people. 

Looking through the states which formed the confederacy in 
its beginning, Ave find as general facts, that public order has 
been effectually maintained, public faith has been preserved, 
and public tranquillity has been undisturbed, that justice has 
everywhere been regularly administered, and generally with im- 
partiality. We have established a system of education, which, 
it is true, is surpassed by many European institutions, in regard 
to the instruction afforded, but which nevertheless is far more 
equal and universal in regard to the masses which are educated ; 
and Ave are beginning to see that system adapted equally to the 
education of both sexes, and of all races, AA^iich is a feature 
altogether neAv even in modern civilization, and promises the 
most auspicious results to the cause of liberty and virtue. Our 
literature half a century ago Avas altogether ephemeral and 
scarcely formed an element of moral or political influence. It 



THE DESTlx\Y OF AMERICA. 045 

is now marked with our own national principles and sentiments, 
and exerts every day an increasing influence on tlie national 
mind. The journalist press, originally a feeble institution, often 
engaged in exciting the passions and alarming the fears of 
society, and dividing it into uncompromising and unforgiving 
factions, has been constantly assuming a higher tone of morality 
and more patriotic and liamane principles of action. There are 
indeed gross abuses of the power of suffrage, but still our popu- 
lar elections on the whole, express the will of the people, and 
are even less influenced by authority, prejudice, and passion, 
than heretofore. Slavery, an institution that wag" at first quite 
universal, has now come to be acknowledged as a peculiar one 
existing in only a portion of the states. And if, as I doubt not, 
you, like myself, are impatient of its continuance, then you will 
nevertheless find ground for much satisfaction in the fact that 
the foreign slave trade has been already by unanimous consent 
of all the states condemned and repudiated, that manumission 
has been efi'ected in half of the states, and that, notwithstanding 
the great political influence which the institution has been able 
to organize, a healthful, constant, and growing public sentiment, 
nourished by the suggestions of sound economy and the instincts 
of justice and humanity, is leading the way with marked ad- 
vance toward a complete and universal though just and peace- 
ful emancipation. 

It must be borne in mind, now, that all this moral and social 
improvement has been effected, not by the exercise of any 
authority over the people, but by the people themselves acting 
with freedom from all except self-imposed restraints. 

Of the new states it is happily true that they have, almost 
without exception, voluntarily organized their governments ac- 
cording to the most perfect models furnished by the elder mem- 
bers of the confederacy, and that tliey have uniformly main- 
tained law, order, and faith, while they have with wonderful 
forecast been even more munificent than the elder states in lay- 
hig broad foundations of liberty and virtue. On the whole, we 
think that we may claim that, under the republican system estab- 
lished here, the people have governed themselves safely and 
wisely, and have enjoyed a greater amount of prosperity and 

15* 



346 ORATION. 

happiness than, under any form of constitution, was ever before 
or elsewhere vouchsafed to any portion of mankind. 

Nevertheless, this review proves only that the measure of 
knowledge and virtue we possess is equal to the exigency of 
the republic under the circumstances in which it was organized. 
Those circumstances are passing away, and we are entering a 
career of wealth, power, and expansion. In that career, it is 
manifest that we shall need higher intellectual attainments and 
greater virtue as a nation than we have hitherto possessed, or 
else there is no adaptation of means to ends in the scheme of 
the Divine government. Nay, we shall need in this new emer- 
gency intellect and virtue surpassing those of the honored found- 
ers of the republic. I am aware that this proposition will seem 
to you equally unreasonable and irreverent. Nevertheless, you 
will on a moment's reflection admit Its truth. Did the invention 
of the nation stop with the discoveries of Fulton and Franklin ? 
On the contrary, those philosophers, if they could now revisit 
the earth, would bow to the genius which has perfected the 
steam-engine and the telegraph with a homage as profound as 
that with which we honor their own great memory. So I think 
Jefferson, and even Washington, under the same circumstances, 
instead of accusing us of degeneracy, would be lost in admira- 
tion of the extent and perfection to which we have safely car- 
ried in practice the theory of self-government which they estab- 
lished amid so much uncertainty, and bequeathed to us with so 
much distrust. Shall we acquit ourselves of obligation if we 
rest content with either the achievements, the intelligence, or 
the virtue of our ancestors ? If so, then the prospect of man- 
kind is hopeless indeed, for then it must be true that not only is 
there an impassable stage of social perfection, but that we have 
reached it, and that, henceforth, not only we but all mankind 
must recede from it, and civilization must everywhere decline. 
Such a hypothesis does violence to every poAver of the human 
mind and every hope of the human heart. Moreover, these 
energies and aspirations are the forces of a divine nature within 
us, and to admit that they can be stifled and suppressed is to 
contradict the manifest purposes of human existence. Yet it 
will be quite absurd to claim that we are fulfilling these pur- 
poses, if Ave shall fail to produce hereafter benefactors of our 



THE DESTINY OF AMEIUCA. 347 

race equal lo Fulton, and Fraukliu, aud Adaius, and oven 
Washington. Let us hold these honored characters indeed as 
models but not of unapproachable perfection. Let us, on the 
contrary, weigh and fully understand our great responsibilities. 
It is well that we can rejoice in tlie renown of a Cooper, an 
Irving, and a Bancroft, but we have yet to give birtli to a 
Shakspere, a Milton, and a Bacon. The fame of Patrick 
Henry and of John Adams may suflice for the past, but the 
world Avill yet demand of us a Burke and a Demosthenes. "We 
may repose for the present upon the fame of Morse and Fulton 
and Franklin, but human society is entitled to l6ok to us, ere 
long, for a Des Cartes and a Newton. If we disappoint these 
expectations and acknowledge ourselves unequal to them, then 
how shall it be made to appear that freedom is better than 
slavery, and republicanism more conducive to the "welfare of 
mankind than despotism ? To cherish aspirations humbler than 
these, is equally to shrink from our responsibilities and to dis- 
honor the memory of the ancestors we so justly revere. 

And now I am sure that your hearts will sink into some depth 
of despondency when I ask whether American society now 
exhibits the influences of these higher but necessary aspirations ? 
I think that everywhere there is confessed a decline from the 
bold and stern virtue which, at some previous time, was incul- 
cated and practised in executive councils and in representative 
chambers. I think that we all are conscious that recently we 
have met questions of momentous responsibility, in the organ- 
ization of governments over our newly-acquired territories, and 
appeals to our sympathy and aid for oppressed nations abroad 
in a spirit of timidity and of compromise. I think that we all 
are conscious of having abandoned something of our high moral- 
ity, in suffering important posts of public service, at home and 
abroad, to fall sometimes into the hands of mercenary men, 
destitute^ of true republican spirit, and of generous aspirations to 
promote the welfare of our country and of mankind : — 
"Souls that no hope of future praise inflame, 
Cold and insensible to glorious fame." 
I think that we are accustomed to excuse the national demor- 
alization which has produced these results, on the ground that 
the practice of a sterner virtue might have disturbed the bar- 



348 ORATION. 

mony of society, and endangered the safety of that fabric of 
union on Avhich all our hopes depend. In this we forget that a 
nation must always recede if it be not actually advancing ; that 
as hope is the element of progress, so fear admitted into public 
counsels betrays like treason. 

But there is, nevertheless, no sufficient reason for the distrust 
of the national virtue. Moral forces are like material forces, 
subject to conflict and reaction. It is only through successive 
reaction that knowledge and virtue advance. The great con- 
servative and restorative forces of society still remain, and are 
acquiring, all the while, even greater vigor than they have ever 
heretofore exercised. Whether I am right or not in this opinion, 
all will agree that an increase of popular intelligence and a 
renewal of public virtue are necessary. This is saying nothing 
new, for it is a maxim of political science that all nations must 
continually advance in knowledge and renew their constitutional 
virtues, or must perish. I am sure that we shall do this, because 
I am sure that our great capacity for advancing the welfare of 
mankind has not yet been exhausted, and that the promises we 
have given to the cause of humanity Avill not be suffered to fail 
by Him who overrules all human events to the promotion of 
that cause. 

But Avhere is the agency that is to work out these so neces- 
sary results ? Shall we look to the press 1 Yes, we may hope 
much from the press, for it is free. It can safely inculcate truth 
and expose prejudice, error, and injustice. The press, moreover, 
is strong in its perfect mechanism, and it reaches every mind 
throughout this vast and ever-widening confederacy. But the 
press must have editors and authors — men possessing talents, 
education, and virtue, and so qualified to instruct, enlighten, and 
guide the people. 

Shall we look to the sacred desk ? Yes, indeed ; for it is of 
divine institution and is approved by human experience. Tlie 
ministers of Christ, inculcating divine morals, under divine au- 
tliority, Avith divine sanctions, and sustained and aided by special 
co-operating influences of the Divine Spirit, are now carrying 
further and broadly onward the great work of the renewal of 
the civilization of the world, and its emancipation from supersti- 
tion and despotism. But the desk, also, must have ministers — 



THK nESTINY or AMKIIICA. H49 

men possessing tnlents, education, and virtue, and so riualified 
to enlighten, instruct, and guide mankind. 

But liOAvever well the press, the desk, and the popular trl!)- 
une, may be qualified to instruct and elevate the people, their 
success and consequently their influence must after all depend 
largely on the measure of intelligence and vii-tu(^ possessed by 
the people Avhen sufficiently matured to receive their instructions. 
Editors, authors, ministers, statesmen, and people, all are qualified 
for their respective posts of duty in the institutions of popular 
education, and the standard of these is established by that which 
is recognised among us by the various names of the academy, 
the college, and the university. We see, then, that the univer- 
sity holds a chief place among the institutions of the American 
Republic. 

I may not attempt to specify at large what the university 
ought to teach or how it ought to impart its instnictions. That 
has been confided to abler and more practical hands. But I 
may venture to insist on the necessity of having the standard of 
moral duty maintained at its just height by the university. That 
institution must be rich and full in the knowledge of the sciences 
wliicli it imparts, but this is not of itself enough. It must imbue 
the national mind with correct convictions of the greatness and 
excellence to Avhicli it ought to aspire. To do this it must ac- 
custom the public mind to look beyond the mere temporary con- 
sequences of actions and events to their ultimate influence on the 
direction of the republic and on the progress of mankind. So it 
will enable men to decide between prejudice and reason, expe- 
diency and duty, the demagogue and the statesman, the bigot 
and the Christian. 

The standard which the university shall establish must cor- 
respond to the principles of eternal truth and equal justice. The 
university must be conservative. It must hold fast every just 
principle of moral and political science that the experience of 
mankind has approved, but it must also be bold, remembering 
that in every human system there are always political supersti- 
tions upholding physical slavery in some of its modes, as there 
are ahvays religious superstitions upholding intellectual slavery 
in some of its forms; that all these superstitions stand upon pre- 
scriptions, and that they ca^1 only be exploded where opinion is 



350 ORATION. 

left free, and reason is ever active and vigorous. But tlie uni- 
versity must nevertheless practise and teach moderation and 
charity even to error, remembering that involuntary error will 
necessarily be mingled also even with its own best instructions, 
that unbridled zeal overreaches and defeats itself, and that he 
who would conquer in moral discussion, hke him who would pre- 
vail in athletic games, must be temperate in all things. 

Reverend Instructors and Benevolent Founders, this new in- 
stitution by reason of its location in the centre of Ohio, itself a 
central one among these thirty-one united communities, must 
exert an influence that can scarcely be conceived, now, upon the 
welfare and fame of our common country. Devote it then I 
pray you to no mere partisan or sectarian objects. Remember 
that the patriot and the Christian is a partisan or a sectarian, 
only because the constitution of society allows him no other mode 
of efficient and beneficent activity. Let *^ Capital University" 
be dedicated not to the interests of the beautiful city which it 
adorns, nor even to the interests of the great and prosperous state 
whose patronage I hope it will largely enjoy, nor even to the 
Republic of which I trust it is destined to become a tower of 
strength and support. On the contrary if you would make it 
promote most effectually all these precious interests, dedicate it, 
I enjoin upon you, as our forefathers dedicated all the institutions 
which they established, to the cause of Human Nature. 



NEBRASKA AND KANSAS, 

FREEDOM AXD PUBLIC FAITH.* 

Mr. President : Tlie United States, at tlic close of the 
Revolution, rested southward on the St. Mary's, and westward 
on the Mississippi, and possessed a broad, unoccupied domain, 
circumscribed by those rivers, the Alleghany mountains, and the 
great northern lakes. The constitution anticipated a division 
of this domain into states, to be admitted as members of the 
Union, but it neither provided for nor foresat\' any enlargement 
of the national boundaries. The people, engaged in reorgani- 
zing their governments, improving their social systems, and 
establishing relations of commerce and friendship with other na- 
tions, remained many years content within their apparently am- 
ple limits. But it was already known that the free navigation 
of the Mississippi would soon become an urgent public want. 

France, although she had lost Canada, in chivalrous battle, 
on the Heights of Abraham, in 17G3, nevertheless, still retained 
her ancient territories on the western bank of the Mississippi. 
She had also, just before the breaking out of her own fearful 
revolution, re-acquired, by a secret treaty, the possessions on the 
Gulf of Mexico, which, in a recent war, had been wrested from 
her by Spain. Her first consul, among those brilliant achieve- 
ments which proved him the first statesman as well as the first 
captain of Europe, sagaciously sold the whole of these posses- 
sions to the United States, for a liberal sum, and thus replen- 
* Speech in the United States Senate, February 17, 1854. 



352 SPEECHES IN THE IJNiTlOI) STATES SENATE. 

isliecl liis treasury, while he saved from his enemies, and trans- 
ferred to a friendly power, distant and vast regions, which, for 
want of adequate naval force, he Avas unable to defend. 

This purchase of Louisiana from France by the United 
States, involved a grave dispute concerning the western limits 
of that province ; and that controversy, having remained open 
until 1819, was then adjusted by a treaty, in which they relin- 
quished Texas to Spain, and accepted a cession of the early-dis- 
covered and long-inhabited provinces of East Florida and West 
Florida. The United States stipulated, in each of these cases, 
to admit the countries thus annexed into the federal Union. 

The acquisitions of Oregon, by discovery and occupation, of 
Texas, by voluntary annexation, and of New Mexico and Cali- 
fornia, including what is now called Utah, by war, completed 
the rapid course of enlargement, at the close of which our fron- 
tier has been fixed near the centre of what was New Spain, on 
the Atlantic side of the continent, while on the west, as on the 
cast, only an ocean separates us from the nations of the old 
world. It is not in my way now to speculate on the question, 
how long we are to rest on these advanced positions. 

Slavery, before the devolution, existed jn all the thirteen 
colonies, as it did also in nearly all the other European planta- 
tions in America, But it had been forced by British authority, 
for political and commercial ends, on the American people, 
against their own sagacious instincts of policy, and their stronger 
feelings of justice and humanity. 

They had protested and remonstrated against the system, 
earnestly, for forty years, and they ceased to protest and remon- 
strate against it only when they finally committed their entire 
cause of complaint to the arbitrament of arms. An earnest 
spirit of emancipation was abroad in the colonies at the close of 
the Eevolution, and all of them, except, perhaps. South Carolina 
and Georgia, anticipated, desired, and designed an early re- 
moval of the system from the country. The suppression of the 
African slave-trade, which was universally regarded as ancillary 
to that great measure, was, with much reluctance, postponed 
until 1808. 

While there was no national power, and no claim or desire 
for national power, anywhere, to compel involuntary emancipa- 



NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. 1]^)^ 

tion ill the states Avliere slavery existed, there was at the same 
time a very general desire and a strong pnrjjose to prevent its 
introduction into new communities yet to be formed, and into 
new states yet to be established. ]Mr. Jefferson proposed, as 
early as 1784, to exclude it from the national domain Avhich 
should be constituted by cessions from the states to the United 
States. He recommended and urged the measure as ancilLary, 
also, to the ultimate policy of emancipation. There seems to 
have been at first no very deep jealousy between the emancipa- 
ting and the non-emancipating states ; and the policy of admit- 
ting new states was not disturbed by questions concerning 
slavery. Vermont, a non-slaveholding state, was admitted in 
1793. Kentucky, a tramontane slaveholding community, hav- 
ing been detached from Virginia, was admitted, Avithout being 
questioned, about the same time. So, also, Tennessee, which 
was a similar community separated from North Carolina, was 
admitted in 1796, Avith a stipulation that the ordinance which 
Mr. Jefferson had first proposed, and Avhich had in the mean 
time been adopted for the terrirory northwest of the Ohio, should 
not be held to apply within her limits. The same course Avas 
adopted in organizing territorial governments for Mississippi and 
Alabama, slaA^eholding communities which had been detached 
from South Carolina and Georgia. All these states and territo- 
ries Avere situated southAvest of the Ohio river, all Avere more or 
less already peopled by slaA'eholders Avith their slaves ; and to 
have excluded slavery Avithin their limits Avould have been a 
national act, not of preventing the introduction of slavery, but 
of abolishing slavery. In short, the region southwest of the 
Ohio river presented a field in Avhich the policy of preventing 
the introduction of slavery Avas impracticable. Our foreftithers 
never attempted Avhat Avas impracticable. 

But the case Avas otherAvise in that fair and broad region 
Avhich stretched away from the banks of the Ohio, northAvard to 
the lakes, and westAvard to the Mississippi. It was yet free, or 
practically free, from the presence of slaves, and Avas nearly un- 
inhabited, and quite unoccupied. There Avas then no Baltimore 
and Ohio railroad, no Erie railroad, no New York Central rail- 
road, no Boston and Ogdensburgh railroad ; there Avas no rail- 
road through Canada ; nor, indeed, any road around or across 



354 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

tlie mountains ; no imperirJ Erie canal, no Welland canal, no 
lockage around the rapids and the falls of the St. Lawrence, 
the Mohawk, and the Niagara rivers, and no steam navigation 
on the lakes or on the Hudson, or on the Mississippi. There, 
in tliat remote and secluded region, the prevention of the in- 
troduction of slavery was possible ; and there our forefathers, 
who left no possible national good unattempted, did prevent it. 
It makes one's heart hound with joy and gratitude, and lift 
itself up with mingled pride and veneration, to read the history 
of that great transaction. Discarding the trite and common 
forms of expressing the national will, they did not merely "vote," 
or " resolve," or " enact," as on other occasions, but they " or- 
dained," in language marked at once with precision, amplifica- 
tion, solemnity, and emphasis, that there " shall be neither 
slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise 
than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have 
been duly convicted." And they further ordained and declared 
that this lavf should be considered a compact between the 
original states and the people and states of said territory, and 
for ever remain unalterable, unless by common consent. The 
ordinance was agreed to unanimously. Virginia, in reaffirming 
her cession of the territory, ratified it, and the first Congress 
held under the constitution solemnly renewed and confirmed it. 

In pursuance of this ordinance, the several territorial gov- 
ernments successively established in the northwest territory 
were organized with a prohibition of the introduction of slavery, 
and in due time, though at successive periods, Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, states erected within that ter- 
ritory, have come into the Union with constitutions in their 
hands for ever prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, 
except for the punishment of crime. They are yet young ; but, 
nevertheless, who has ever seen elsewhere such states as they 
are ! There are gathered the young, the vigorous, the active, 
the enlightened sons of every state, the flower and choice of 
every state in this broad Union ; and there the emigrant for 
conscience' sake, and for freedom's sake, from every land in 
Europe, from proud and all-conquering Britain, from heart-broken 
Ireland, from sunny Italy, from mercurial France, from spiritual 
Germany, from chivalrous Hungary, and from honest and brave 



FREEDOM AND PUBLIC FAITH. 355 

old S\A'ecIen and Norway, Thence are already coming ample 
supplies of corn and Avlieat and Avine for the mannfacturers of 
the East, for the planters of the tropiics, and even for the arti- 
sans and the armies of Europe ; and thence will continue to come 
in long succession, as they have already begun to come, states- 
men and legislators for this continent. 

Thus It appears Mr. President, that it was the policy of our 
fathers, in regard to the original domain of the United States, to 
prevent the introduction of slavery, wherever It was practicable. 
This policy encountered greater difficulties v>dien it came under 
consideration with a view to its establishment In regions not in- 
cluded Avithin our original domain. While slavery had been ac- 
tually abolished already, by some of the emancipating states, 
several of them, owing to a great change in the relative value 
of the productions of slave labor, had fallen off into the class of 
non-emancipating states ; and now the whole family of states 
was divided and classified as slaveholding or slave states, and 
non-slaveholding or free states. A rivalry for political ascen- 
dency was soon developed ; and, besides the motives of interest 
and philanthropy which had before existed, there was now on 
each side a desire to increase, from am.ong the candidates for 
admission into the Union, the number of states in their respec- 
tive classes, and so their relative weight and influence in the 
federal councils. 

The country Avhich had been acquired from France was, in 
1804, organized in two territories, one of which, including New 
Orleans as Its capital, was called Orleans, and the other, having 
St. Louis for its chief town, was called Louisiana. Li 1812, the 
territory of Orleans was admitted as a new state, under the name 
of Louisiana. It had been an old slaveholding colony of France, 
and the prevention of slavery within it would have been a sim- 
ple act of abolition. At the same time, the territory of Louisi- 
ana, by authority of Congress, took the name of Missouri ; and, 
in 1819, the portion thereof which now constitutes the state of 
Arkansas was detached, and became a territory, under that 
name. In 1819, IMIssourl, which was then but thinly peopled, 
and had an inconsiderable number of slaves, applied for admis- 
sion Into the Union, and her application brought the question of 
extending the policy of the ordinance of 1787 to that state, and 



35(3 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

to other new states in tlie region acquired from France, to a 
direct issue. The house of representatives insisted on a pro- 
hibition against the further introduction of slavery in the state, 
as a condition of her admission. The senate disagreed Avith the 
house in that demand. The non-slaveholding states sustained 
tlie house, and the slaveholding states sustained the senate. 
The difference was radical, and tended toM'ard revolution. 

One party maintained that the condition demanded was con- 
stitutional, the other that it was unconstitutional. The public 
mind became intensely excited, and painful apprehensions of dis- 
union and civil war began to prevail in the country. 

In this crisis, a majority of both houses agreed upon a plan for 
the adjustment of the controversy. By this plan, Maine, a non- 
slaveholding state, was to be admitted; Missouri was to be ad- 
mitted without submitting to the condition before mentioned ; 
and in all that part of the territory acquired from France, which 
was north of the line of 36'-'^ 30' of north latitude, slavery was to be 
for ever prohibited. Louisiana, which was a part of that terri- 
tory, had been admitted as a slave state eight years before ; and 
now, not only was Missouri to be admitted as a slave state, but 
Arkansas, which was south of that line, by strong implication, 
was also to be admitted as a slaveholding state. I need not in- 
dicate what were the equivalents which the respective parties 
were to receive in this arrangement, further than to say that the 
slaveholding states practically were to receive slaveholding states, 
the free states to receive a desert, a solitude, in which they might 
if they could, plant the germs of future free states. This meas- 
ure was adopted. It was a great national transaction — the first 
of a class of transactions which have since come to be thoroughly 
defined and well understood, under the name of compromises. 
My own opinions concerning them are well known, and are not 
in question here. According to the general understanding, they 
are marked by peculiar circumstances and features, viz. : 

First, there is a division of opinion upon some A^tal national 
question between the tAvo houses of Congress, which division is 
irreconcilable, except by mutual concessions of interests and 
opinions, AAdiich the houses deem constitutional and just. 

Secondly, they are rendered necessary by impending calam- 
ities, to results from the failure of legislation, and to be no 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 357 

otherwise averted than by such mutual concessions, or sacri- 
fices. 

Thirdly, such concessions are mutual and equal, or are accept- 
ed as such, and so become conditions of the mutual arrangement. 

Fourthly, b}^ this mutual exchange of conditions, the transac- 
tion takes on the nature and character of a contract, compact, or 
treaty, between the parties represented ; and so, according to 
well-settled principles of morality and public law, the statute 
w^hich embodies it is understood, by those who uphold this sys- 
tem of legislation to be irrevocable and irrepealable, except by 
the mutual consent of both, or of all the parties concerned. Not 
indeed, that it is absolutely irrepealable, but that it can not be 
repealed without a violation of honor, justice, and good faith, 
which it is presumed will not be committed. 

Such was the compromise of 1820. Missouri came into the 
Union immediately as a slaveholding state, and Arkansas came 
in as a slaveholding state, sixteen years afterward. Nebraska, 
the part of the territory reserved exclusively for free territories 
and free states, has remained a wilderness ever since. And noAV 
it is proposed here to abrogate, not, indeed, the whole compro- 
mise, but only that part of it which saved Nebraska as a free 
territory, to be afterward divided into non-slaveholding states, 
which should be admitted into the Union. And this is proposed, 
notwithstanding a universal acquiescence in the compromise, by 
both parties, for thirty years, and its confirmation, over and over 
again, by many acts of successive Congresses, and notwithstand- 
ing that the slaveholding states have peaceably enjoyed, ever 
since it was made, all their equivalents, while,. owing to circum- 
stances which will hereafter appear, the non-slaveholding states 
have not practically enjoyed those guarantied to them. 

This is the question now before the senate of the United 
States of America. 

It is a question of transcendant importance. The proviso of 
1820, to be abrogated in Nebraska, is the ordinance of the Con- 
tinental' Congress of 1787, extended over a new part of the na- 
tional domain, acquired under our present constitution. It is 
rendered venerable by its antiquity, and sacred by the memory 
of that Congress, which in surrendering its trust, after establish- 
ing the ordinance, enjoined it upon posterity, always to remember 



358 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

that the cause of the United States was the cause of human na- 
ture. The question involves an issue of public faith, and national 
morality and honor. It will be a sad day for this republic, when 
such a question shall be deemed imworthy of grave discussion, 
and shall fail to excite intense interest. Even if it were certain 
that the inhibition of slavery in the region concerned was unne- 
cessary, and if the question were thus reduced to a mere abstrac- 
tion, yet even that abstraction would involve the testimony of 
the United States on the expediency, wisdom, morality, and 
justice, of the system of human bondage, with which this and 
other portions of the world have been so long afflicted ; and it 
will be a melancholy day for the republic and for mankind, 
when her decision on even such an abstraction shall command 
no respect, and inspire no hope into the hearts of the oppressed. 
But it is no such abstraction. It was no unnecessary dispute, 
no mere contest of blind passion, that brought that compromise 
into being. Slavery and Freedom were active antagonists, then 
seeking for ascendency in this Union. Both Slavery and Free- 
dom are more vigorous, active, and self-aggrandizing now, than 
they were then, or ever were before or since that period. The 
contest between them has been only protracted, not decided. 
It will be a great feature in our national Hereafter. So the 
question of adhering to or abrogating thi<i compromise is no un- 
meaning issue, and no contest of mere blind passion now. 

To adhere, is to secure the occupation by freemen, with free 
labor, of a region in the very centre of the continent, capable of 
sustaining, and in that event destined, though it may be only 
after a far-distant period, to sustain ten, twenty, thirty, forty 
millions of people and their successive generations for ever ! 

To abrogate, is to resign all that vast region to chances 
Avhich mortal vision can not fully foresee ; perhaps to the sover- 
eignty of such stinted and short-lived communities as those of 
which Mexico and South America and the West India islands 
present us with examples ; perhaps to convert that region into 
a scene of long and desolating conflicts between not merely 
races, but castes, to end, like a similar conflict in Egypt, in a 
convulsive exodus of the oppressed people, despoiling their supe- 
riors ; perhaps, like one not dissimilar in Spain, in the forcible 
expulsion of the inferior race, exhausting the state by the sud- 



FREEDOM AND PUBLIC FAITH. 359 

den and complete suppression of a great resource of national 
wealth and labor ; perhaps in the disastrous expulsion, even of 
the superior race itself, bj a people too suddenly raised from 
slavery to liberty, as in St. Domingo. To adhere is to secure 
for ever the presence here, after some lapse of time, of two, 
four, ten, twenty, or more senators, and of representatives in 
larger proportions, to uphold the policy and interests of the 
non-slaveholding states, and balance that ever-increasing repre- 
sentation of slaveholding states, which past experience, and the 
decay of the Spanish-American states, admonish ns has only 
just begun ; to save what the non-slaveholding states have in 
mints, navy-yards, the military academy and fortifications, to 
balance against the capital and federal institutions in the slave- 
holding states ; to save against any danger from adverse or hos- 
tile policy, the culture, the manufactures, and the commerce, as 
Avell as the just influence and Aveight of the national principles 
and sentiments of the slaveholding states. To adhere is to save 
to the non-slaveholding states, as well as to the slaveholding 
states, always, and in every event, a right of way and free com- 
munication across the continent, to and with the states on the 
Pacific coasts, and with the rising states on the islands in the 
South sea, and with all the eastern nations on the vast continent 
of Asia. 

To abrogate, on the contrary, is to commit all these precious 
interests to the chances and hazards of embarrassment and injury 
by legislation, under the influence of social, political, and com- 
mercial jealousy and rivalry ; and in the event of the secession 
of the slaveholding states, which is so often threatened in their 
name, but I thank God without their authority, to give to a ser- 
vile population a La Vendee at the very sources of the Missis- 
sippi, and in the very recesses of the Rocky Mountains. 

Nor is this last a contingency against which a statesman, when 
engaged in giving a constitution for such a territory, so situated, 
must veil his eyes. It is a statesman's province and duty to 
look before as well as after. I know, indeed, the present loy- 
alty of the American people. North and South, and East and 
West. I know that it is a sentiment stronger than any sec- 
tional interest or ambition, and stronger than even the love of 
ecpaUty in the non-slaveholding states ; and stronger, I doubt 



360 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

not, than the love of slavery in tlie slaveliolding states. But I 
do not know, and no mortal sagacity does know, tlie seductions 
of interest and ambition, and the influences of passion, wliicli 
are yet to be matured in every region. I know this, hoAvever — 
that this Union is safe now, and that it will be safe so ^ long as 
impartial political equality shall constitute the basis of society, 
as it has heretofore done, in even half of these states, and they 
shall thus maintain a just equilibrium against the slaveholding 
states. But I am well assured, also, on the other hand, that if 
ever the slaveholding states shall multiply themselves, and ex- 
tend their sphere, so that they could, Avithout association with the 
non-slaveholding states, constitute of themselves a commercial 
republic, from that day their rule, through the executive, judi- 
cial, and legislative powers of this government, will be such as 
will be hard for the non-slaveholding states to bear ; and their 
pride and ambition, since they are congregations of men, and 
are moved by human passions, will consent to no union in which 
they shall not so rule. 

The slaveholding states already possess the mouths of the 
Mississippi, and their territory reaches far northward along its 
banks, on one side to the Ohio, and on the other even to the 
confluence of the Missouri. They stretch their dominion now 
from the banks of the Delaware, quite around bay, headland, 
and promontory, to the Rio Grande. They will not stop, al- 
though they now think they may, on the summit of the Sierra 
Nevada ; nay, their armed pioneers are already in Sonora, and 
their eyes are already fixed, never to be taken off, on the island 
of Cuba, the queen of the Antilles. If we of the non-slavehold- 
ing states surrender to them now the eastern slope of the 
Hocky Mountains, and the very sources of the Mississippi, what 
territory will be secure, what territory can be secured hereafter, 
for the creation and organization of free states, within our ocean- 
bound domain ? What territories on this continent will remain 
unappropriated and imoccupied, for us to annex ? What terri- 
tories, even if we are able to buy or conquer them from Great 
Britain or Russia, will the slaveholding states suff'er, mucli less 
aid, us to annex, to restore the equilibrium which, by this unne- 
cessary measure, we shall have so im wisely, so hurriedly, so 
suicidally subverted ? 



KANSAS AND NEBRASKA. 361 

Nor am I to be told that only a few slaves will enter into 
this vast region. One slaveholder in a new territory, with 
access to the executive ear at Washington, exercises more polit- 
ical influence than five hundred freemen. It is not necessary 
that all or a majority of the citizens of a state shall be slave- 
holders, to constitute a slaveholding state. Delaware has only 
two thousand slaves, against ninety-one thousand freemen ; and 
yet Delaware is a slaveholding state. The proportion is not 
substantially different in Maryland and in Missouri; and yet 
they are slaveholding states. These, sir, are the stakes in this 
legislative game, in which I lament to see, that while the repre- 
sentatives of the slaveholding states are unanimously and earn- 
estly playing to win, so many of the representatives of the non- 
slaveholding states are, with even greater zeal and diligence, 
playing to lose. 

Mr. President, the committee who have recommended these 
twin bills for the organization of the territories of Nebraska 
and Kansas, hold the affirmative in the argument upon their 
passage. 

What is the case they present to the senate and the country 1 

They have submitted a report ; but that report, brought in 
before they had introduced or even conceived this bold and dar- 
ing measure of abrogating the Missouri Compromise, directs all 
its arguments against it. 

The committee say, in their report : — 

"Such being the ehavaetci' of the controversy, in respect to the territory 
acquired from Mexico, a similar question has arisen in regard to the right 
to hold slaves in the proposed territory of Nebraska, when the Indian laws 
shall be withdrawn, and the country thrown open to emigration and settle- 
ment. By the eighth section of 'An Act to authorize the People of the Mis- 
souri Territory to form a Constitution and State Government, and for the 
Admission of such State into the Union on an equal Footing M'ith the original 
States, and to prohibit Slavery in certain Territories,' approved March 6, 
1820, it was provided: 'That in all that territory ceded by France to the 

! United States under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty -six 
degrees and tliirty minutes north latitude, not included within the limits of 
the state contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, other- 
wise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall have been 

I duly convicted, shall be, and is hereby, for ever prohibited : Provided, always. 
That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is law- 
fully claimed in any state or territory of the United States, such fugitive 

I 



862 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her 
labor or service, as aforesaid.' 

" Under this section, as in the case of the Mexican law in New Mexico 
and Utah, it is a disputed point whether slavery is prohibited'in the Nebras- 
ka country by valid enactment. The decision of this question involves the 
constitutional power of Congress to pass laws prescribing and regulating 
the domestic institutions of the various territories of the Union. In the 
opinion of those eminent statesmen who hold that Congress is invested with 
no rightful authority to legislate upon the subject of slavery in the territo- 
ries, the eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri 
is null and void ; while the prevailing sentiment in large portions of the 
Union sustains the doctrine that the constitution of the United States se- 
cures to every citizen an inalienable right to move into any of the territo- 
ries with his property, of whatever kind and description, and to hold and 
enjoy the same under the sanction of the law. Your committee do not feel 
themselves called upon to enter into the discussion of these controverted 
questions. They involve the same grave issues which produced the agita- 
tion, the sectional strife, and the fearful struggle of 1850. As Congress 
deemed it wise and prudent to refrain from deciding the matters in conti'o- 
versy then, either by affirming or repealing the Mexican laws, or by an act 
declnratory of the true intent of the constitution, and the extent of the pro- 
tection afforded by it to slave property in the territories, so your committee 
are not prepared now to recommend a departure from the course pursued 
on that memorable occasion, either by affirming or repealing the eighth 
section of the Missouri act, or by any act declaratory of the meaning of the 
constitution in respect to the legal points in dispute." 

This report gives ns the deliberate jndg-ment of the committee 
on two important points. First, that the compromise of ISoO 
did not, by its letter or by its spirit, repeal, or render necessary, 
or even propose, the abrogation of the Missouri Compromise ; 
and, secondly, that the Missouri Compromise ought not now to 
be abrogated. And now, sir, what do we next hear from this 
committee ? First, two similar and kindred bills, actually abro- 
gating the Missouri Compromise, which, in their report, they had 
told us ought not to be abrogated at all. Secondly, these bills 
declare on their face, in substance, that that compromise was 
already abrogated by the spirit of that very compromise of 1850, 
which. In their report they had just shown us, left the compro- 
mise of 1820 absolutely unaffected and unimpaired. Thirdly, 
the committee favor us, by their chairman, with an oral explana- 
tion, that the amended bills abrogating the Missouri Compro- 
mise are identical with their previous bill, which did not abro- 
gate it, and are only made to differ in phraseology, to the end 



FREEDOM AND PUBLIC FAITH. 606 

that the provisions contained in their previous, and now discarded, 
bill, shall be absolutely clear and certain. 

I entertain great respect for the committee itself, but I must 
take leave to say that the inconsistencies and self-contradictions 
contained in the papers it has given us, have destroyed all 
claims, on the part of those documents, to respect, here or else- 
where . 

The recital of the effect of the compromise of 1850, upon the 
compromise of 1820, as finally revised, corrected, and amended, 
here in the face of the senate, means after all substantially what 
that recital meant as it stood before it was perfected, or else it 
means nothing tangible or worthy of consideration at all. What 
if the spirit, or even the letter, of the compromise laws of 1850 
did conflict with the compromise of 1820 1 The compromise of 
1820 was, by its very nature, a compromise irrepealable and un- 
changeable, without a violation of honor, justice, and good faith. 
The compromise of 1850, if it impaired the previous compromise 
to the extent of the loss to free labor of one acre of the territory 
of Nebraska, was either absolutely void, or ought, in all subse- 
quent legislation, to be deemed and held void. 

What if the spirit or the letter of the compromise was a vio- 
lation of the compromise of 1820 ] Then, inasmuch as the com- 
promise of 1820 was inviolable, the attempted violation of it 
shows that the so-called compromise of 1850 was to that extent 
not a compromise at all, but a factitious, spurious, and pretended 
compromise. What if the letter or the spiiit of the compromise 
of 1850 did supersede or impair, or in any way, in any degree, 
conflict with the compromise of 1820 ] Then that is a reason 
for abrogating, not the irrepealable and inviolable compromise 
of 1820, but the spurious and pretended compromise of 1850 

Mr. President, why is this reason for the proposed abrogation 
of the compromise of 1820 assigned in these bills at all 1 It is 
unnecessary. The assignment of a reason adds nothing to the 
force or weight of the abrogation itself. Either the fact alleged 
as a reason is fnte or it is not true. If it be untrue, your asser- 
ting it here will not make it true. If it be true, it is apparent 
in the text of the law of 1850, without the aid of legislative ex- 
position now. It is unusual. It is unparliamentary. The lan- 
guage of the lawgiver, whether the sovereign be democratic, 



364 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

republican, or despotic, is always the same. It is mandatory, 
imperative. If* the lawgiver explains at all in a statute the 
reason for it, the reason is that it is his pleasure — sic volo, sic 
juheo. Look at the compromise of 1820. Does it plead an ex- 
cuse for its commands ? Look at the compromise of 1850, drawn 
by the master-hand of our American Chatham. Does that be- 
speak your favor by a quibbling or shuffling apology 1 Look at 
your own, now rejected, first Nebraska bill, which, by conclusive 
implication, saved the effect of the Missouri Compromise. Look 
at any other bill ever reported by the committee on territories. 
Look at any other bill noAV on your calendar. Examine all the 
laws on your statute-books. Do you find any one bill or statute 
which ever came bowing, stooping, and wriggling into the sen- 
ate, pleading an excuse for its clear and explicit declaration of 
the sovereign and irresistible will of the American people 1 The 
departure from this habit in this solitary case betrays self-dis- 
trust, and an attempt on the part of the bill to divert the public 
attention, to raise complex and immaterial issues, to perplex and 
bewilder and confound the people by whom this transaction is 
to be reviewed. Look again at the vacillation betrayed in the 
frequent changes of the structure of this apology. At first the 
recital told us that the eighth section of the compromise act of 
1820 was superseded by the principles of the compromise laws 
of 1850 — as if any one had ever heard of a supersedeas of one 
local law by the mere 'p^'i^ciples of another local law, enacted 
for an altogether different region, thirty years afterward. On 
another day we were told, by an amendment of the recital, that 
the compromise of 1820 was not superseded by the compromise 
of 1850 at all, but was only *' inconsistent with" it — as if a local 
act which was irrepealable was now to be abrogated, because it 
was inconsistent with a subsequent enactment, which had no 
application whatever within the region to which the first 
enactment was confined. On a third day the meaning of 
the recital was further and finally elucidated by an amend- 
ment, which declared that the first irrepealable act protecting 
Nebraska from slavery was now declared "inoperative and 
void," because it was inconsistent with the present purposes of 
Congress not to legislate slavery into any territory or state, nor 
to exclude it therefrom. 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 365 

But take tliis apology in whatever form it may be expressed, 
and test its logic by a simple process. 

The law of 1820 secured free institutions in the regions ac- 
quired from France in 1S03, by the wise and prudent foresight 
of the Congress of the United States. The law of 1850, on the 
contrary, committed the choice between free and slave institu- 
tions in New Mexico and Utah — territories acquired from Mex- 
ico nearly fifty years afterward — to the interested cupidity or 
the caprice of their earliest and accidental occupants. Free in- 
stitutions and slave institutions are equal, but the interested 
cupidity of the pioneer is a wiser arbiter, and his judgment a 
surer safeguard, than the collective wisdom of the American 
people and the most solemn and time-honored statute of tho 
American Congress. Therefore, let the law of freedom in the 
territory acquired from France be now annulled and abrogated, 
and let the fortunes and fate of freedom and slavery, in the re- 
gion acquired from France, be, henceforward and for ever, deter- 
mined by the votes of some seven hundred camp followers around 
Fort LeaveuAvorth, and the still smaller number of trappers, 
government school-masters, and mechanics, who attend the In- 
dians in their seasons of rest from hunting in the passes of the 
Rocky mountains. Sir, this syllogism may satisfy you and other 
senators ; but as for me, I must be content to adhere to the ear- 
lier system. Stare super antiquas vias. 

There is yet another difficulty in this new theory. Let it be 
granted that, in order to carry out a new principle recently 
adopted in New Mexico, you can supplant a compromise in 
Nebraska, yet there is a maxim of public law which forbids you 
from supplanting that compromise, and establishing a new sys- 
tem there, until you first restore the parties in interest there to 
their statu quo before the compromise to be supplanted Avas estab- 
lished. First, then, remand Missouri and Arkansas back to the 
unsettled condition, in regard to slavery, which they held before 
the compromise of 1820 was enacted, and then we will hear you 
talk of rescinding that compromise. You can not do this. You 
ought not to do it, if you could ; and because you can not 
and ought not to do it, you can not, without violating law, 
justice, equity, and honor, abrogate the guarantee of freedom 
in Nebraska. 



366 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

There is still another and not less serious difficulty. Yon call 
the slavery laws of 1850 a compromise between the slavehold- 
ing and non-slaveholding states. For the purposes of this argu- 
ment, let it be granted that they Avere such a compromise. It 
was nevertheless a compromise concerning slavery in the terri- 
tories acquired from Mexico, and by the letter of the compromise 
it extended no further. Can you now, by an act which is not a 
compromise between the same parties, but a mere ordinary law, 
extend the force and obligation of the principles of that compro- 
mise of 1850 into regions not only excluded from it, but abso- 
lutely protected from your intervention there by a solemn com- 
promise of thirty years' duration, and invested with a sanctity 
scarcely inferior to that which hallows the constitution itself ? 

Can the compromise of 1850, by a mere ordinary act of legis- 
lation, be extended beyond the plain, known, fixed intent and 
understanding of the parties at the time that contract was made, 
and yet be binding on the parties to it, not merely legally, but 
in honor and conscience? Can you abrogate a compromise by 
passing any law of less dignity than a compromise 1 If so, of 
what value is any one or the Avhole of the compromises ? Thus 
you see that these bills violate both of the compromises — not 
more that of 1820 than that of 1850. 

Will you maintain in argument that it Avas understood by the 
parties interested throughout the country, or by either of them, 
or by any representative of either, in either house of Congress, 
that the principle then established should extend beyond the 
limits of the territories acquired from Mexico, into the territories 
acquired- nearly fifty years before, from France, and then re- 
posing under the guaranty of the compromise of 1820 ? I know 
not how senators ma}^ vote, but I do know what they will say. 
I appeal to the honorable senator from Michigan [Mr. Cass], 
than whom none performed a more distinguished part in estab- 
lishing the compromise of 1850, whether he so intended or un- 
derstood. I appeal to the honorable and candid senator, the 
senior representative from Tennessee [Mr. Bell], who performed 
a distinguished part also. Did he so understand the compro- 
mise of 1850? He is silent. I appeal to the gallant senator 
from Illinois [Mr. Shields] 1 He, too, is silent. I now throw 
my gauntlet at the feet of every senator now here, who was in 



FREEDOM AND PUBLIC FAITH. 367 

the senate in 1850, and cliallenge liimto say that he then knew, 
or thought, or dreamed, that, hj enactmg the compromise of 
1850, he was directly or indirectly abrogating, or in any degree 
impairing, the Missouri Compromise] No one takes it up. I 
appeal to that very distinguished — nay, sir, that expression falls 
short of his eminence — that illustrious man, the senator from 
Missouri [Mr. Benton], who led the opposition here to the com- 
promise of 1850. Did he understand that that compromise in 
any way overreached or impaired the compromise of 1820 1 Sir, 
that distinguished person, while opposing the combination of the 
several laws on the subject of California and the territories, and 
slavery, together," in one bill, so as to constitute a compromise, 
nevertheless voted for each one of those bills, severally ; and iu 
that way, and that way only, they were passed. Had he known 
or understood that any one of them overreached and impaired 
the Missouri Compromise, we all knoAv he would have perished 
before he would have given it his support. 

Sir, if it were not irreverent, I would dare to call up the au- 
thor of both of the compromises in question, from his honored, 
though yet scarcely grass-covered grave, and challenge any ad- 
vocate of this measure to confront that imperious shade, and say 
that, in making the compromise of 1850, Henry Clay intended 
or dreamed that he was subverting, or preparing the way for a 
subversion of, his greater work of 1820. Sir, if that eagle spirit 
is yet lingering here over the scene of its mortal labors, and 
watching over the welfare of the republic it loved so well, it is 
now moved with more than human indignation against those 
who are perverting its last great public act from its legitimate 
uses, not merely to subvert the column, but to wrench from its 
very bed the base of the column that perpetuates its fame. 

And that other proud and dominating senator, who, sacrificing 
himself, gave the aid without which the compromise of 1850 
could not have been established — the statesman of "New Eng- 
land, and the orator of America — who dare assert here, where 
his memory is yet fresh, though his unfettered spirit may be 
wandering in spheres far hence, that he intended to abrogate, or 
dreamed that, by virtue of or in consequence of that transaction, 
the Missouri compromise would or could ever be abrogated ? 
The portion of the Missouri compromise you propose to abro- 



868 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

gate is the ordinance of^ 1787 extended to Nebraska. Hear 
what Daniel Webster said of that ordinance itself, in 1830, in 
this very place^ in reply to one who had undervalued it and its 
author : — 

"I spoke, sir, of the ordinance of 178Y, which prohibits slavery, in all 
future time, northwest of the Ohio, as a measure of great wisdom and fore- 
tliought, and one which has been attended with highly beneficial and per- 
manent consequences." 

And now hear what he said here, when advocating the com- 
promise of 1850 : — 

"I now say, sir, as the proposition upon which I stand this day, and upon 
the truth and firmness of which I intend to act until it is overthrown, that 
there is not at this moment in the United States, or any territory of the 
United States, one single foot of land, the character of which, in regard to . 
its being free territory or slave territory, is not fixed by some law, and 
some IRREPEALABLE law, beyond the power of the action of this government." 

What irrej)ealahle law, or what law of any kind, fixed the 
character of Nebraska as free or slave territory, except the Mis- 
souri compromise act ? 

And now hear what Daniel Webster said when vindicating 
the compromise of 1850, at Buffalo, in 1851: — 

"My opinion remains unchanged, that it was not within the original 
scope or design of the constitution to admit new states out of foreign terri- 
tory; and for one, whatever may be said at the Syracuse convention or any 
other assemblage of insane persons, I never would consent, and never have 
consented, that there should be one foot of slave territory beyond what the 
old thirteen states had at the time of the formation of the Union! Never! 
Never ! 

"The man can not show his face to mc and say he can prove that I ever 
departed from that doctrine. He would sneak away, and slink away, or 
hire a mercenary press to cry out. What an apostate from liberty Daniel 
Webster has become! But he knows himself to be a hypocrite and a falsi- 
fier." 

That compromise was forced upon the slaveholding states and 
upon the non-slaveholding states as a mutual exchange of equiv- 
alents. The equivalents were accurately defined, and carefully 
scrutinized and weighed by the respective parties, through a 
period of eight months. The equivalents offered to the non- 
slaveholding states were : 1st, the admission of California ; 2d, 
the abolition of the public slave-trade in the District of Colum- 
bia. These, and these only, were the boons offered to them, 



THE MISSOURI CU.UPROMISE. 309 

and the only sacrifices which the slaveholcling states were re- 
quired to make. The waiver of the Wihnot proviso in the 
incorporation of New Mexico and Utah, and a new fugitive slave 
law, were the only boons proposed to the slaveholding states, 
and the only sacrifices exacted of the non-slaveholding states. 
No other questions between them were agitated, except those 
which were involved in the gain or loss of more or less of free 
territory or of slave territory in the determination of the bound- 
ary between Texas and New Mexico, by a line that was at 
last arbitrarily made, expressly saving, even in iliose territories^ 
to the respective parties, their respective shares of free soil and 
slave soil, according to the articles of annexation of the republic 
of Texas. Again : There were alleged to be five open, bleed- 
ing wounds in the federal system, and no more, which needed 
surgery, and to which the compromise of 1850 Avas to be a cata- 
plasm. We all know what they were : California without a 
constitution ; New Mexico in the grasp of military power ; Utah 
neglected ; the District of Columbia dishonored ; and the rendi- 
tion of fugitives denied. Nebraska was not even thought of in 
this catalogue of national ills. And now, sir, did the Nashville 
convention of secessionists understand that, besides the enumera- 
ted boons offered to the slaveholding states, they were to have also 
the obliteration of the Missouri compromise line of 1820 ? If they 
did, why did they reject and scorn and scout at the compromise 
of 1850 \ Did the legislatures and public assemblies of the non- 
slaveholding states, who made your table groan Avitli their re- 
monstrances, understand that Nebraska was an additional wound 
to be healed by the compromise of 1850 % If they did, why did 
they omit to remonstrate against the healing of that, too, as well 
as of the other five, by the cataplasm, the application of which 
they resisted so long ? 

^Again : Had it been then known that the Missouri compromise 
was to be abolished, directly or indirectly, by the compromise of 
1850, what representative from a non-slaveholding state would, 
at that day, have voted for it % Not one. What senator from a 
slaveholding state would not have voted for it ] Not one. So 
entirely was it then unthought of that the new compromise was 
to repeal the MissouiT compromise line of 36° 30'' in the region 
acquired from France, that one half of that long debate was 

16* 



370 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

spent on propositions made by representatives from slaveholding 
states, to extend the line further on through the new territory 
we had acquired so recently from Mexico, imtil it should disap- 
pear in the waves of the Pacific ocean, so as to secure actual 
toleration of slavery in all of this new territory that should be 
south of that line ; and these propositions were resisted strenu- 
ously and successfully to the last by the representatives of the 
non-slaveholding states, in order, if it were possible, to save the 
whole of those regions for the theatre of free labor. 

I admit that these are only negative proofs, although they are 
pregnant with conviction. But here is one which is not only 
affirmative, but positive, and not more positive than conclu-- 
sive : — 

In the fifth section of the Texas boundary bill, one of the 
acts constituting the compromise of 1850, are these words : — 

"Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to impaii' 
or qualify anything contained in the third article of the second section of 
the joint resolution for annexing Texas to the United States, approved 
March 1, 1845, either as regards the number of states that may hereafter be 
formed out of the state of Texas, or otherwise." 

What was that third article of the second section of the joint 
resolution for annexing Texas 1 Here it is : — 

"New states, of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition 
to said state of Texas, having sufficient population, may hereafter, by the 
consent of said state, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be 
entitled to admission under the provisions of the federal constitution. And 
such states as may be formed out of that portion of said territory lying south 
of 86° 30' north latitude, commonly known as the Missouri compromise line, 
shall be admitted into the Union with or without slavery, as the people of 
each state asking admission may desire. And in such state or states as shall 
be formed out of said territory north of said Missouri compromise line, 
slavery or involuntary servitude (except for crime) shall be prohibited." 

This article saved the compromise of 1820, in express terms, 
overcoming any implication of its abrogation, which might, by 
accident or otherwise, have crept into the compromise of 1850 ; 
and any inferences to that effect, that might be drawn from any 
such circumstance as that of drawing the boundary line of Utah 
so as to trespass on the territory of Nebraska, dwelt upon by the 
senator from Illinois. 

The proposition to abrogate the Missouri compromise, being 



NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. 371 

tlius stripped of the pretence tliat it is only a reiteration or a re- 
affirmation of a similar abrogation in the compromise of 1850, or 
a necessary consequence of that measure, stands before us now 
upon its own merits, Avhatever they may be. 

But here the senator from Illinois challenges the assailants of 
these bills, on the ground that they all were opponents of the 
compromise of 1850, and even of that of 1820. Sir, it is not my 
purpose to answer in person to this challenge. The necessity, 
reasonableness, justice, and wisdom of those compromises, are 
not in question here now. My own opinions on them were, at a 
proper time, fully made known. I abide the judgment of my 
country and mankind upon them. For the present, I meet the 
committee who have brought this measure forward, on the field 
they themselves have chosen, and the controversy is reduced to 
two questions : 1st. Whether, by letter or spirit, the compromise 
of 1850 abrogated or involved a future abrogation of the com- 
promise of 1820 1 2d. Whether this abrogation can now be 
made consistently with honor, justice, and good faith? As to 
my right, or that of any other senator, to enter these lists, the 
credentials filed in the secretary's office settle that question. 
Mine bear a seal, as broad and as firmly fixed there as any 
other, by a people as wise, as free, and as great, as any one of 
all the thirty-one republics represented here. 

But I will take leave to say, that an argument merely 
ad personam, seldom amounts to anything more than an argu- 
ment ad captandum. A life of approval of compromises, and of 
devotion to them, only enhances the obligation faithfully to fulfil 
them. A life of disapprobation of the policy of compromises 
only renders one more earnest in exacting fulfilment of them, 
when good and cherished interests are secured by them. 

Thus much for the report and the bills of the committee, and 
for the positions of the parties in this debate. A measure so 
bold, so unlooked-for, so startling, and yet so pregnant as this, 
should have some plea of necessity. Is there any such neces- 
sity 1 On the contrary, it is not necessary now, even if it be 
altogether Avise, to establish territorial governments in Nebraska. 
Not less than eighteen tribes of Indians occupy that vast tract, 
fourteen of which, I am informed, have been removed there by 
our own act, and invested with a fee simple to enjoy a secme 



872 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

and perpetual liome, safe from the intrusion and the annoyance, 
and even from the presence of the Avhite man, and under the 
paternal care of the government, and with the instruction of its 
teachers and mechanics, to acquire the arts of civilization and 
the habits of social life. I will not say that this was done to 
prevent that territory, because denied to slavery, from being 
occupied by free white men, and cultivated with free white 
labor ; but I will say, that this removal of the Indians there, 
under such guaranties, has had that effect. The territory can 
not be occupied now, any more than heretofore, by savages and 
white men, with or without slaves, together. Our experience 
and our Indian policy alike remove all dispute from this point. 
Either these preserved ranges must still remain to the Indians 
hereafter, or the Indians, whatever temporary resistance against 
removal they may make, must retire. 

Where shall they go ? Will you bring them back again 
across the Mississippi ? There is no room for Indians here. 
Will you send them northward, beyond your territory of Ne- 
braska, toward the British border % That is already occupied 
by Indians ; there is no room there. Will you turn them loose 
upon Texas and New Mexico % There is no room there. 

Will you drive them over the Rocky mountains ? They Avill 
meet a tide of immigration there, flowing into California from 
Europe and from Asia. Whither, then, shall they, the dispos- 
sessed, unpitied heirs of this vast continent, go ? The answer 
is, noicliere. If they remain in Nebraska, of what use are 
your charters ? Of what harm is the Missouri compromise in 
Nebraska, in that case % Whom doth it oppress ? No one. 

Who, indeed, demands territorial organization in Nebraska at 
all. The Indians ? No. It is to them the consummation of a 
long-apprehended doom. Practically, no one demands it. I 
am told that the whole white population, scattered here and 
there throughout those broad regions, exceeding in extent tlVe 
'whole of the inhabited part of the United States at the time of 
the Revolution, is less than fifteen hundred, and that these are 
chiefly trappers, missionaries, and a few mechanics and agents 
employed by the government, in connection with the adminis- 
tration of Indian affairs, and other persons temporarily drawn 
around the post of Fort Leavenworth. It is clear, then, that 



FllEEDOM AND PL^BLIC FAITH. 373 

this abrog-ation of the Missouri compromise is not necessary for 
the purpose of establishing territorial governments in Nebraska, 
but that, on the contrary-, these bills, establishing such govern- 
ments, are only a vehicle for carrying, or a pretext for carrying, 
that act of abrogation. 

It is alleged that the non-slaveholding states have forfeited 
their rights in Nebraska, under the Missouri compromise, by first 
breaking that compromise themselves. The argument is, that the 
Missouri compromise line of 36° 30^, in the region acquired from 
France, although confined to that region which was our western- 
most possession, Avas, nevertheless, understood as intended to be 
prospectively applied also to the territory reaching thence west- 
ward to the Pacific ocean, which we should afterward acquire 
from Mexico ; and that when afterward, having acquired these 
territories, including California, New Mexico, and Utah, we were 
engaged in 1848 in extending governments over them, the free 
states refused to extend that line, on a proposition to that effect 
made by the honorable senator from Illinois. 

It need only be stated, in refutation of this argument, that 
the Missouri compromise law, like any other statute, was limited 
by the extent of the subject of which it treated. This subject 
was the territory of Louisiana, acquired from France, whether 
the same were more or less, then in our lawful and peaceful 
possession. The length of the line of 36° 30^ established by 
the Missouri compromise, was the distance betAveen the parallels 
of longitude which were the borders of that possession. Young 
America — I mean aggrandizing, conquering America- — had not 
yet been born ; nor was the statesman then in being who dreamed 
that, Tvathin thirty years afterward, we should have pushed our 
adventurous way, not only across the Ilocky mountains, but 
also across the Snowy mountains. Nor did any one then imagine, 
that, even if we should have done so within the period I have 
named, we were then prospectively carving up and dividing, not 
only the mountain-passes, but the Mexican empire on the Pacific 
coast, between Freedom and Slavery. If such a proposition 
had been made then, and persisted in, we know enougli of the 
temper of 1820 to know this, viz. : that Missouri and Arkansas 
would have stood outside of the Union until even this porten- 
tous day 



374 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

The time, for aiiglit 1 know, may not be thirty years distant, 
when the convulsions of the Celestial empire and the decline of 
British sway in India will have opened oiu' way into the regions 
beyond the Pacific ocean. I desire to know now, and be fully 
certified, of the geographical extent of the laws we are now pass- 
ing, so that there may be no such mistake hereafter as that now 
complained of here. We are now confiding to territorial legis- 
latures the power to legislate on slavery. Are the territories of 
Nebraska and Kansas alone within the purview of these acts ? 
Or do they reach to the Pacific coast, and embrace also Oregon 
and Washington? Do they stop there, or do they take in 
China, and India, and Affghanistan, even to the gigantic base 
of the Himalaya mountains 1 Do they stop there, or, on the 
contrary, do they encircle the earth, and, meeting us again on 
the Atlantic coast, embrace the islands of Iceland and Green- 
land, and exhaust themselves on the barren coasts of Greenland 
and Labrador ? 

Sir, if the Missouri compromise neither is in its spirit nor by 
its letter extended to the line of 36° 30^ beyond the confines of 
Louisiana, or beyond the then confines of the United States — 
for the terms are equivalent — then it was no violation of the 
Missouri compromise in 1848 to refuse to extend it to the 
subsequently-acquired possessions of Texas, New Mexico, and 
California. 

But suppose we did refuse to extend it ; how did that refusal 
work a forfeiture of our vested rights under it ? I desire to 
know that. 

Again ; If this forfeiture of Nebraska occurred in 1848, as 
the senator charges, how does it happen that he not only failed 
in 1850, when the parties were in court here, adjusting their 
mutual claims, to demand judgment against the free states, but, 
on the contrary, even urged that the same old Missouri compro- 
mise line, yet held valid and sacred, should be extended through 
to the Pacific ocean ? 

I come now to the chief ground of the defence of this extra- 
ordinary measure, which is, that it abolishes a geographical line 
of division between the proper fields of free labor and slave labor, 
and refers the claim between them to the people of the territories. 
Even if this great change of policy was actually wise and neces- 



MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 875 

saiy, I have shown that it is not necessary to make it now, in 
regard to the territory of Nebraska. If it would be just else- 
where, it would be unjust in regard to Nebraska, simply because, 
for ample and adequate equivalents, fully received, you have 
contracted in effect not to abolish that line there. 

But why is this change of policy wise or necessary ? It must 
be because either that the extension" of slavery is no evil, or 
that you have not the power to prevent it at all, or because the 
maintenance of a geographical line is no longer practicable. 

I know that the opinion is sometimes advanced, here and 
elsewhere, that the extension of slavery, abstractly considered, 
is not an evil ; but our laws prohibiting the African slave-trade 
are still standing on the statute-book, and express the contrary 
judgment of the American Congress and of the American peo- 
ple. I pass on, therefore, from that point. 

Sir, I do not like, more than others, a geographical line be- 
tween Freedom and Slavery. But it is because I would have, 
if it were possible, all our territory free. Since that can not be, 
a line of division is indispensable ; and any line is a geograph- 
ical line. 

The honorable and very acute senator from North Carolina 
[Mr. Badger] has wooed us most persuasively to waive our objec- 
tions to tlie new principle, as it is called, of non-intervention, by 
assuring us that the slaveholder can only use slave-labor where 
the soils and climates favor the culture of tobacco, cotton, rice, 
and sugar. To which I reply: None of these find congenial 
soils or climates at the sources of the Mississippi, or in the val- 
ley of the Rocky mountains. Why, then, does he want to 
remove the inhibition there ? 

But again : That senator reproduces a pleasing fiction of the 
character of slavery from the Jewish history, and asks, Why not 
allow the modern patriarchs to go into new regions with their 
slaves, as their ancient prototypes did, to make them more com- 
fortable and happy ? And he tells us, at the same time, that 
this indulgence will not increase the number of slaves. I reply 
by asking, first, Whether slavery has gained or lost strength by 
the diffusion of it over a larger surface than it formerly covered ? 
Will the senator answer that ? Secondly, I admire the sim- 
plicity of the patriarchal times. But they, nevertheless, exhib- 



376 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

itecl some peculiar institutions quite incongruous with modern 
republicanism, not to say Christianity, namely, that of a latitude 
of construction of the marriage contract, which has been carried 
by one class of so-called patriarchs into Utah. Certainly, no one 
would desire to extend that peculiar institution into Nebraska. 
Thirdly, slaveholders have also a peculiar institution, which 
makes them j)oliUcal patriarchs. They reckon five of their 
slaves as equal to three freemen in forming the basis of federal 
representation. If these patriarchs insist upon carrying their 
institution into new regions, north of 36^ 30', I respectfully 
submit, that they ought to resume the modesty of their Jewish 
predecessors, and relinquish this political feature of the system 
they thus seek to extend. Will they do that 1 

Some senators have revived the argument that the Missouri 
compromise was unconstitutional. But it is one of the peculiari- 
ties of compromises, that constitutional objections, like all others, 
are buried under them by those who make and ratify them, for 
the obvious reason that the parties at once waive them, and 
receive equivalents.^ Certainly, the slaveholding states, which 
waived their constitutional objections against the compromise of 
1820, and accepted equivalents therefor, can not be allowed to 
revive and offer them now as a reason for refusing to the non- 
slaveholding states their rights under that compromise, without 
first restoring the equivalents which they received on condition 
of surrendering their constitutional objections. 

For argument's sake, however, let this reply be waived, and 
let us look at this constitutional objection. You say that the 
exclusion of slavery by the Missouri compromise reaches through 
and beyond the existence of the region organized as a territory, 
and prohibits slavery for ever even in the states to be organ- 
ized out of such territory, while, on the contrary, the states, when 
admitted, will be sovereign, and must have exclusive jurisdiction 
over slavery for themselves. Let this, too, be granted. But 
Congress, acording to the constitution, " may admit new states." 
If Congress may admit, then Congress may also refuse to ad- 
mit — that is to say, may reject new states. The greater includes 
the less ; therefore. Congress may admit, on condition that the 
states shall exclude slavery. If such a condition should be 
accepted, would it not be binding? 



NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. 377 

It is by no means necessary, on this occasion, to follow the 
argument further, to the question, whether such a condition is in 
conflict with the constitutional provision, that the new states re- 
ceived shall be admitted on an equal footino^ with the original 
states, because, in this case, and at present, the cjuestion relates 
not to the admission of a State, but to the organization of a ter- 
ritory, and the exclusion of slavery within the territory while its 
status as a territory shall continue, and no further. Congress 
have power to exclude slavery in territories, if they have any 
power to create, control, or govern territories at all, for this sim- 
ple reast)n : that find the authority of Congress over the territo- 
ries wherever you may, there you find no exception from that 
general authority in favor of slavery. If Congress has no au- 
thority over slavery in the territories, it has none in the District 
of Columbia. If, then, you abolish a laAV of Freedom in Nebras- 
ka, in order to establish a new policy of abnegation, then true 
consistency requires that you shall also abolish the slavery laws 
in the District of Columbia, and submit the question of the toler- 
ation of slavery within the district to its inhabitants. 

If you reply, that the District of Columbia has no local or ter- 
ritorial legislature, then I rejoin, so also has not Kebraska, and 
so also has not Kansas. You are calling a territorial legislature 
into existence in Nebraska, and another in Kansas, to assume 
the jurisdiction on the subject of slavery, which you renounce. 
Then consistency demands that you call into existence a territo- 
rial legislature in the District of Columbia, to assume the juris- 
diction here, which you must also renounce. Will you do this ? 
We shall see. 

To come closer to the question : What is this principle of ab- 
negating national authority, on the subject of slavery, in favor 
of the people ? Do you abnegate all authority, whatever, in 
the territories "? Not at all ; you abnegate only authority over 
slavery there. Do you abnegate even that ? No ; yon do not 
and you can not. In the very act of abnegating you legislate, 
and enact that the states to be hereafter organized shall come 
in whether slave or free, as their inhabitants shall choose. Is 
not this legislating not only on the subject of slavery in the 
territories, but on the subject of slavery in the future states 1 
In the very act of abnegating, you call into being a legislature 



378 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

wliicli shall assume the authority which you are renouncing. 
You not only exercise authority in that act, but you exercise 
authority over slavery, when you confer on the territorial 
legislature the power to act upon that subject. More than 
this : In the very act of calling that territorial legislature into 
existence, you exercise authority in prescribing who may 
elect and who may be elected. You even reserve to yourselves 
a veto upon every act that they can pass as a legislative body, 
not only on all other subjects, but even on the subject of slavery 
itself. Nor can you relinquish that veto ; for it is absurd to say 
that you can create an agent, and depute to him the legislative 
authority of the United States, which agent you can not at your 
own pleasure remove, and whose acts you can not at your own 
pleasure disavow and repudiate. The territorial legislature is 
your agent. Its acts are your own. Such is the principle that 
is to supplant the ancient policy — a principle full of absurdities 
and contradictions. 

Again : You claim that this policy of abnegation is based upon 
a democratic principle. A democratic principle is a principle 
opposed to some other that is despotic or aristocratic. You claim 
and exercise the power to institute and maintain government in 
the territories. Is this comprehensive poAver aristocratic or 
despotic ? If it be not, how is the partial power aristocratic or 
despotic 1 You retain authority to appoint governors, without 
whose consent no laws can be made on any subject, and judges, 
without whose consideration no laws can be executed, and you 
retain the power to change them at pleasure. Are these pow- 
ers, also, aristocratic or despotic ? If they are not, then the 
exercise of legislative power by yourselves is not. If they are, 
then- why not renounce them also ? No, no. This is a far-fetched 
excuse. Democracy is a simple, uniform, logical system, not a 
system of arbitrary, contradictory, and conflicting principles ! 

But you must nevertheless renounce national authority over sla- 
very in the territories, while you retain all other powers. What 
is this but a mere evasion of solemn responsibilities ? The gen- 
eral authority of Congress over the territories is one wisely con- 
fided to the national legislature, to save young and growing 
communities from the dangers which beset them in their state 
of pupilage, and to prevent them from adopting any policy that 



FREEDOM AND PUBLIC FAITH. 379 

shall be at war with their own lasting' interests, or with the gen- 
eral welfare of the AA'hole republic. The authority over the sub- 
ject of slavery is that which ought to be renounced last of all, 
in favor of territorial legislatures, because, from the very circum- 
stances of the territories, those legislatures are likely to yield 
too readily to ephemeral influences, and interested offers of fa- 
vor and patronage. They see neither the great Futiu'e of the 
territories, nor tlie comprehensive and ultimate interests of the 
whole republic, as clearly as you see them, or ouglit to see them. 
I have heard sectional excuses given for supporting this 
measure. I have heard senators from the slaveholdhig states 
say that they ought not to be expected to stand by the non- 
slaveholding states, when they refuse to stand by themselves ; 
that they ought not to be expected tt> refuse the boon offered to 
the slaveholding states, since it is offered by the non-slavehold- 
ing states themselves. I not only confess the plausibilitv of 
these excuses, but I feel the justice of the reproach which they 
imply against the non-slaveholding states, as far as the assump- 
tion^ is true. Nevertheless, senators from the slaveholding states 
must consider well whether that assumption is, in any consider- 
able degree, founded in fact. If one or more senators from the 
North decline to stand by the non-slaveholding states, or offer a 
boon in their name, others from that region do, nevertheless, 
stand firmly on their rights, and protest against the giving or 
the acceptance of the boon. It has been said that the North 
does not speak out, so as to enable you to decide between the 
conflicting voices of her representatives. Are you quite sure 
you have given her timely notice ? Have you not, on the con- 
trary, hurried this measure forward, to anticipate her awaking 
from the slumber of conscious security into which she has been 
lulled by your last compromise ! Have you not heard already 
the quick, sharp protest of the legislature of the smallest of the 
non-slaveholding states, Rhode Island ? Have you not already 
heard the deep-toned and earnest protest of the greatest of those 
states, New York 1 Have you not already heard remonstrances 
from the metropolis, and from the rural districts 1 Do you 
doubt that this is only the rising of the agitation that you profess 
to believe is at rest for ever ? Do you forget that, in all such 
transactions as these, the people have a reserved right to re- 



380 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATP:S SENATE. 

view the acts of tlieir representatives, and a right to clemand a 
reconsideration ; that there is in our legislative practice a form 
of RE-ENACTMENT, as Well as an act of repeal; and that there is 
in our political system provision not only for abrogation, but for 
KESTORATiON also ? And when the process of repeal has begnn, 
hoAv many and what laws will be open to repeat, equally with 
the Missourri Compromise'? There will be this act, the fugitive 
slave laws, the articles of Texas annexation, the territorial laws 
of New Mexico and Utah, the slavery laws in the District of 
Columbia. 

Senators from the slaveholding states : You are politicians as 
well as statesmen. Let me remind yon, therefore, that political 
movements in this country, as in all others, have their times of 
action and reaction. The pendulum moved up the side of free- 
dom in 1S40, and swung back again in 1844 on the side of 
slavery, traversed the dial in 1848, and touched even the mark 
of the Wilmot proviso, and returned again in 1 852, reaching 
even the height of the Baltimore platform. Judge for your- 
selves whether it is yet ascending, and whether it will attain the 
height of the abrogation of the Missouri compromise. That is 
the mark you are fixing for it. For myself, I may claim to 
know something of the North. I see in the changes of the 
times only the vibrations of the needle, trembliug on its pivot. 
I know that in due time it will settle ; and when it shall have 
settled, it will point, as it must point for ever, to the same con- 
stant polar star, that sheds down influences propitious to freedom 
as broadly as it pours forth its melloAV but invigorating light. 

Mr. President, I have nothing to do, here or elsewhere, with 
personal or party motives. But I come to consider the motive 
which is publicly assigned for this transaction. It is a desire to 
secure permanent peace and harmony on the subject of slavery, 
by removing all occasion for its future agitation in the federal 
legislature. Was there not peace already here? Was there 
not harmony as perfect as is ever possible in the country, when 
this measure was moved in the senate a month ago 1 Were we 
not, and was not the whole nation, grappling with that one 
grerit, common, universal interest, the opening of a communica- 
tion between our ocean frontiers, and were we not already reck- 
oning upon the quick and busy subjugation of nature throno-hout 



MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 381 

the interior of the continent to the uses of man, and dwelling 
with almost rapturous enthusiasm on the prospective enlarge- 
ment of our commerce in the East, and of our political sway- 
throughout the world? And what have we now here but the 
oblivion of death, covering the very memory of those great 
enterprises, and prospects, and hopes 1 

Senators from the non-slaveholding states : You want peace. 
Think well, I beseech you, before you yield the price now 
demanded, even for peace and rest from slavery agitation. 
France has got peace from republican agitation by a similar 
sacrifice. So has Poland • so has Hungary ; and so, at last, has 
Ireland. Is the peace which either of those nations enjoys 
worth the price it cost 1 Is peace, obtained at such cost, ever 
a lasting peace ? 

Senators from the slaveholding states : You, too, suppose that 
you are securing peace as well as victory m this transaction. I 
tell you now, as I told you in 1850, that it is an error, an unne- 
cessary error, t6 suppose, that because you exclude slavery from 
these halls to-day, that it M'ill not revisit them to-morrow. You 
buried the Wilmot proviso here then, and celebrated its obse- 
quies with pomp and revelry. And here it is again to-day, 
stalking through these halls, clad in complete steel as before. 
Even if those whom you denounce as factionists in the North 
would let it rest, you yourselves must evoke it from its grave. 
The reason is obvious. Say what you will, do what you will, 
here, the interests of the non-slaveholding states and of the 
slaveholding states remain just the same ; and they will remain 
just the same, until you shall cease to cherish and defend 
slavery, or we shall cease to honor and love freedom ! You will 
not cease to cherish slavery. Do you see any signs that we are 
becoming indifferent to freedom ? On the contrary, that old, 
traditional, hereditary sentiment of the North is more profound 
and more universal now than it ever was before. The slavery 
agitation you deprecate so much is an eternal struggle between 
Cons^i-vatism and Progress, between Truth and Error, between 
Right and Wrong. You may sooner, by act of Congress, com- 
pel the sea to suppress its upheavings, and the round earth to 
extinguish its internal fires, than oblige the human mind to cease 
its inquirings, and the human heart to desist from its throbbings. 



.^82 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

Suppose then, for a moment, that this agitation must go on 
hereafter as heretofore. Then, hereafter as heretofore, there 
will be need, on both sides, of moderation ; and, to secure mod- 
eration, there will be need of mediation. Hitherto you have 
secured moderation by means of compromises, by tendering 
which, the great mediator, now no more, divided the^ people of 
the North. But then those in the North who did not sympa- 
thize with you in your complaints of aggression from that quar- 
ter, as well as those Avho did, agreed that if compromises should 
be effected, they would be chivalrously kept on your part. I 
cheerfully admit that they have been so kept until now. But 
hereafter, when having taken advantage, which in the North 
will be called fraudulent, of the last of those compromises, to 
become, as you will be called, the aggressors, by breaking the 
other, as will be alleged, in violation of plighted faith and 
honor, while the slavery agitation is rising higher than ever be- 
fore, and while your ancient friends, and those whom you persist 
in regarding as your enemies, shall have been driven together 
by a common and universal sense of your injustice, what new 
mode of restoring peace and harmony will you then propose ? 
What statesman will there be in the South, then, who can bear 
the flag of truce 1 What statesman in the North who can 
mediate the acceptance of your new proposals ? I think it will 
not be the senator from Illinois. 

If, however, I err in all this, let us suppose that you succeed 
in suppressing political agitation of slavery in national affairs. 
Nevertheless, agitation of slavery must go on in some form ; for 
all the world around you is engaged in it. It is, then, high time 
for you to consider where you may expect to meet it next. I 
much mistake if, in that case, you do not meet it there where 
we, who once were slaveholding states, as you now are, have 
met, and, happily for us, succumbed before it — namely, in the 
legislative halls, in the churches and schools, and at the fireside, 
within the states themselves. It is an angel of mercy with 
which, sooner or later, every slaveholding state must wrestle, 
and by which it must be overcome. Even if, by reason of this 
measure, it should the sooner come to that point, and although 
I am sure that you will not overcome freedom, but that freedom 
will overcome you, yet I do not look even then for disastrous or 



NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. 383 

unliaiDpy results. The institutions of our country are so framed, 
that the inevitable conflict of opinion on slavery, as on every 
other subject, can not be otherwise than peaceful in its course 
and beneficent in its termination. 

Nor shall I " bate one jot of heart or hope," in maintaining a 
just equilibrium of the non-slaveholding states, even if tliis ill- 
starred measure shall be adopted. The non-slaveholding states 
are teeming with an increase of freemen — educated, vigorous, 
enlightened, enterprising freemen — such freemen as neither Eng- 
land, nor Rome, nor even Athens, ever reared. Half a million 
of freemen from Europe annually augment that increase ; and 
ten years hence half a million, twenty years hence a million, of 
freemen from Asia will augment it still more. You may ob- 
struct, and so turn the direction of those peaceful armies away 
from Nebraska. So long as you shall leave them room on hill 
or prairie, by river-side or in the mountain-fastnesses, they Avill 
dispose of themselves peacefully and lawfully in the places you 
shall have left open to them ; and there they will erect new 
states upon free soil, to be for ever maintained and defended by 
free arms, and aggrandized by free labor. American slavery, I 
know, has a large and ever-floAving spring, but it can not pour 
forth its blackened tide in volumes like that I have described. 
If you are wise, these tides of freemen and of slaves will never 
meet, for they will not voluntarily commingle ; but if, neverthe- 
less, through your own erroneous policy, their repulsive currents 
must be directed against each other, so that they needs must meet, 
then it is easy to see, in that case, which of them will overcome 
the resistance of the other, and which of them, thus overpow- 
ered, will roll back to drown the source which sent it forth. 

" Man proposes, and God disposes." You may legislate, and 
abrogate, and abnegate, as you will ; but there is a Superior 
Power that overrules all your actions, and all your refusals to 
act; and, I fondly hope and trust, overrules them to the ad- 
vancement of the happiness, greatness, and glory of our coun- 
try — that overrules, I know, not only all your actions, and all 
your refusals to act, but all human events, to the distant but 
inevitable result of the equal and universal liberty of all men. 



384 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. 

SECOND SPEECH. 

Mr. President : 1 rise with no purpose of further resisting 
or even delaying the passage of this bill. Let its advocates 
have only a little patience, and they will soon reach the object 
for which they have struggled so earnestly and so long. The 
sun has set for the last time upon the guarantied and certain 
liberties of all the unsettled and unorganized portions of the 
American continent that lie within the jurisdiction of the United 
States. To-morrow's sun will rise in dim eclipse over them.* 
How long that obscuration shall last, is known only to the Power 
that directs and controls all human events. For myself, I know 
only this — that now no human power will prevent its coming 
on, and that its passing off will be hastened and secured by 
others than those now here, and perhaps by only those belong- 
ing to future generations. 

Sir, it would be almost factious to offer further resistance to 
this measure here. Indeed, successful resistance was never ex- 
pected to be made in this hall. The senate floor is an old bat- 
tle-ground, on which have been fought many contests, and 
always, at least since 1820, with fortune adverse to the cause 
of equal and universal freedom. We were only a few here who 
engaged in that cause in the beginning of this contest. All that 
we could hope to do — all that we did hope to do — was to or- 
ganize and to prepare the issue for the house of representatives, 
to which the country would look for its decision as authoritative, 
and to awaken the country that it might be ready for the appeal 
which would be made, whatever the decision of Congress might 
be. We are no stronger now. Only fourteen at the first, it 

* It will be remembered that an almost total eclipse of the sun actually 
ceourred on that day — the 26th of May, 1854. — Ed. 



FREEDOM AND PUBLIC FAITH. 385 

will be fortunate if, among the ills and accidents which surround 
us, we shall maintain that number to the end. 

W e are on the eve of the consummation of a great national 
transaction — a transaction which will close a cycle in the history 
of our country — and it is impossible not to desire to pause a 
moment and survey the scene around us and the prospect be- 
fore us. However obscure we may individually be, our connec- 
tion with this great transaction Mali perpetuate our names for 
the praise or for the censure of future ages, and perhaps in re- 
gions far remote. If, then, we had no other motive for our ac- 
tions but that of an honest desire for a just fame, we could not 
be indifterent to that scene and that prospect. But individual 
interests and ambition sink into insignificance in view of the in- 
terests of our country and of mankind. These interests awaken, 
at least in me, an intense solicitude. 

It was said by some in the beginning, and it has been said by 
others later in this debate, that it was doubtful whether it would 
be the cause of slavery or the cause of freedom that would gain 
advantages from the passage of this bill. I do not find it neces- 
sary to be censorious, nor even unjust to others, in order that 
my own course may be approved. I am sure that the honora- 
ble senator from Illinois [Mr. DouglasJ did not mean that the 
slave states should gain an advantage over the free states, for 
he disclaimed it when he introduced the bill. I believe, in all 
candor, that the honorable senator from Georgia [Mr. Toombs], 
who comes out at the close of the battle as one of the chiefest 
leaders of the victorious party, is sincere in declaring his own 
opinion that the slave states will gain no unjust advantage over 
the free states, because he disclaims it as a triumph in their be- 
half. Notwithstanding all this, however, what has occurred 
here and in the country, during this contest, has compelled a 
conviction that slavery will gain something, and freedom M'ill 
endure a severe, though I hope not an irretrievable loss. The 
slaveholding states are passive, quiet, content, and satisfied with 
the prospective boon, and the free states are excited and alarmed 
with fearful forebodings and apprehensions. The impatience 
for the speedy passage of the bill manifested by its friends be- 
trays a knowledge that this is the condition of public sentiment 
in the free states. They thought in the beginning that it was 

17 



886 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, 

necessary to guard the measure by insertiug- tlie Clayton amend- 
ment, which would exclude unnaturalized foreign inhabitants of 
the territories from the right of suffrage. And now they seem 
willing, with almost perfect unanimity, to relinquish that safe- 
guard, rather than to delay the adoption of the principal meas- 
ure for at most a year, perhaps for only a week or a day. Sup- 
pose that the senate should adhere to that condition, which so 
lately was thought so wise and so important — what then ? The 
bill could only go back to the house of representatives, which 
must either yield or insist ! In the one case or in the other, a 
decision in favor of the bill would be secured, for even if the 
house should disagree, the senate Avould have time to recede. 
But the majority will hazard nothing, even on a prospect so cer- 
tain as this. They will recede at once, without a moment's fur- 
ther struggle, from the condition, and thus secure the passage 
of this bill, now to- night. Why such haste 1 Even if the question 
were to go to the country before a final decision here, what 
would there be wrong in that ? There is no man living who 
will say that the country anticipated, or that ke anticipated, agi- 
tation of this measure in Congress, when this Congress was 
elected, or even when it assembled in December last. 

Under such circumstances, and in the midst of agitation, and 
excitement, and debates, it is only fair to say that certainly the 
country has not decided in favor of the bill. The refusal, then, 
to let the question go to the country, is a conclusive proof that 
the slave states, as represented here, expect from the passage 
of this bill what the free states insist that they will lose by it, 
an advantage, a material advantage, and not a mere abstraction. 
There are men in the slave states, as in the free states, who in- 
sist always too pertinaciously upon mere abstractions. But that 
is not the policy of the slave states to-day. They are in earnest 
in seeking for and securing an object, and an important one. I 
believe they are going to have it. I do not know how long the 
advantage gained will last, nor how great or comprehensive it 
will be. Every senator who agrees with me in opinion must 
feel as I do — that under such circumstances he can forego noth- 
ing that can be done decently, with due respect to difference of 
opinion, and consistently with the constitutional and settled rules 
of legislation, to place the true merits of the question before the 



THE MISSOUlil COMPROMISE. 387 

cuiintiy. Questions sometimes occur, which seem to have two 
light sides. Such were the questions that divided the English 
nation between Pitt and Fox — such the contest between the 
assailant and the defender of Quebec. The judgment of the 
world Avas suspended by its sympathies, and seemed ready to 
descend in favor of him who should be most gallant in conduct. 
And so, when both fell with equal chivalry on the same iield, 
the survivors united hi raising a common monument to the glori- 
ous but rival memories of Wolfe and Montcalm. But this con- 
test involves a moral question. The slave states so present it. 
Tliey maintain that African slavery is not erroneous, not unjust, 
not inconsistent with the advancing cause of human nature. 
Since they so regard it, I do not expect to see statesmen repre- 
senting those states indifferent about a vindication of this system 
by the Congress of the United States. On the other hand, we 
of the free states regard slavery as erroneous, unjust, oppressive, 
and therefore absolutely inconsistent with the principles of the 
American constitution and government. Who will expect us to 
be indifferent to the decisions of the American people and of 
mankind on such an issue 1 

Again : there is suspended on the issue of this contest the po- 
litical equilibrium between the free and the slave states. It is 
no ephemeral question, no idle question, whether slavery shall 
go on increasing its influence over the central power here, or 
whether freedom shall gain the ascendency. I do not expect to see 
statesmen of the slave states indifferent on so momentous a question, 
and as little can it be expected that those of the free states will 
betray their own great cause. And now it remains for me to 
declare, in view of the decision of this controversy so near at 
hand, that I have seen nothing and heard nothing during its 
progress to change the opinions which at the earliest proper 
period I deliberately expressed. Certainly, I have not seen 
the evidence then promised, that the free states would acquiesce 
in the measure. As certainly, too, I may say that I have not 
seen the fulfilment of the promise that the history of the last 
thirty years would be revised, corrected, and amended, and that 
it would then appear that the country, during all that period, 
had been resting in prosperity and contentment and peace, not 
upon a valid, constitutional, and irrevocable compromise be- 



SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

tween the slave states and the /ree states, but upon an uncon- 
stitutional and false, and even infamous, act of congressional 
usurpation. 

On the contrary, I am now, if possible, more than ever satis- 
fied that, after all this debate, the history of the country Avill go 
down to posterity just as it stood before, carrying to them the 
everlasting facts that until 1820 the Congress of the United 
States legislated to prevent the introduction of slavery into new 
territories whenever that object was practicable ; and that in 
that year they so far modified that policy, under alarming ap- 
prehensions of civil convulsion, by a constitutional enactment in 
the character of a compact, as to admit Missouri a new slave 
state ; but upon the express condition, stipulated in favor of the 
free states, that slavery should be for ever prohibited in all the 
residue of the existing and unorganized territory of the United 
States lying north of the parallel of 36° 30^ north latitude. Cer- 
tainly, I find nothing to win my favor toward the bill in the 
proposition of the senator from Maryland [Mr. Pearce], to re- 
store the Clayton ainendment, which was struck out in the house 
of representatives. So far from voting for that proposition, T 
shall vote against it now, as I did when it was under considera- 
tion here before, in accordance with the opinion adopted as early 
as any pohtical opinions I ever had, and cherished as long, that 
the right of suffrage is not a mere conventional right, but an in- 
herent natural right, of which no government can rightly de- 
prive any adult man who is subject to its authority, and obligated 
to its support. 

I hold, moreover, sir, that inasmuch as every man is, by force 
of circumstances beyond his own control, a subject of govern- 
ment somewhere, he is, by the very constitution of human soci- 
ety, entitled to share equally in the conferring of political power 
on those who wield it, if he is not disqualified by crime ; that in 
a despotic government he ought to be allowed arms, in a free 
government the ballot or the open vote, as a means of self-pro- 
tection against unendurable oppression. I am not likely, there- 
fore, to restore to this bill an amendment which would deprive it 
of an important feature imposed upon it by the house of repre- 
sentatives, and that one, perhaps, the only feature that harmo- 
nizes with my own convictions of justice. It is true that the 



NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. 389 

house of representatives stipulate such suffrages for white men 
as a condition for opening it to the possible proscription and 
slavery of the African. I shall separate them. I shall vote for 
the former, and against the latter, glad to get universal suffrage 
of white men, if only that can he gained now, and working right 
on, full of hope and confidence, for the prevention or the abroga- 
tion of slavery in the territories hereafter. 

Sir, I am surprised at the pertinacity with which the Lonora- 
ble senator from Delaware, mine ancient and lionorable friend 
[Mr. Clayton], perseveres in opposing the granting of the right 
of suffrage to the unnaturahzed foreigner in the territories. Con- 
gress can not deny him that right. Here is the third article 
of that convention by which Louisiana, including Kansas and 
Nebraska, was ceded to the United States : — 

"The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union 
of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the 
principles of the federal constitution, to the enjoyment of the rights, privi- 
leges, and immunities, of citizens of the United States; and in the mean- 
time 'they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their 
liberty, property, and the religion they profess." 

The inhabitants of Kansas and Nebraska are citizens already, 
and by force of this treaty must continue to be, and as such to 
enjoy the right of suffrage, whatever laws you may make to the 
contrary. My opinions are Avell known, to wit : That slavery 
is not only an evil, but a local one, injurious and ultimately per- 
nicious to society, wherever it exists, and in conflict with the 
constitutional principles of society in this country. I am not 
willing to extend nor to permit the extension of that local evil 
into regions now free within our empire. I know that there 
are some who differ from me, and who regard the constitution 
of the United States as an instrument which sanctions slavery 
as well as freedom. But if I could admit a proposition so incon- 
gruous with the letter and spirit of the Federal Constitution, and 
the known sentiments of its illustrious founders, and so should 
conclude that slavery was national, I must still cherish the opin- 
ion that it is an evil ; and because it is a national one, I am the 
more firmly held and bound to prevent an increase of it, tending, 
as I -think it manifestly does, to the weakening and ultimate 
overthrow of the constitution itself, and therefore to the injury 



390 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

of all mankind. I know there have been states which have en- 
dured long, and achieved much, which tolerated slavery ; but 
that was not the slavery of caste, like African slavery. Such 
slavery tends to demoralize equally the subjected race and the 
superior one. It has been the absence of such slavery from Europe 
that lias given her nations their superiority over other countries in 
that hemisphere. Slavery, wherever it exists, begets fear, and 
fear is the parent of weakness. What is the secret of that eternal, 
sleepless anxiety in the legislative halls, and even at the firesides, 
of the slave states, always asking new stipulations, new compro- 
mises and abrogations of compromises, new assumptions of power 
and abnegations of power, but fear ? It is the apprehension that, 
even if safe now, they will not always or long be secure against 
some invasion or some aggression from the free states. What 
is the secret of the humiliating part which proud old Spain is 
acting at this day, trembling between alarms of American intru- 
sion into Cuba on one side, and British dictation on the other, 
but the fact that she has cherished slavery so long, and still 
cherishes it, in the last of her American colonial possessions'? 
Tims far, Kansas and Nebraska are safe, under the laws of 1820, 
against the introduction of this element of national debility and 
decline. The bill before us, as we are assured, contains a great 
principle, a glorious principle ; and yet that principle, when 
fully ascertained, proves to be nothing less than the subversion 
of that security, not only within the territories of Kansas and 
Nebraska, but within all the other present and future new terri- 
tories of the United States. Thus it is quite clear that it is not 
a principle alone that is involved, but that those who crowd this 
measure with so much zeal and earnestness, must expect that 
either freedom or slavery shall gain something by it in tlmse re- 
gions. The case, then, stands tlius in Kansas and Nebraska : 
Freedom may lose, but certainly can gain nothing ; while sla- 
very may gain, but as certainly can lose nothing. 

So far as I am concerned, the time for looking on the dark 
side has passed. I feel quite sure that slavery at most can get 
nothing more than Kansas ; while Nebraska, the wider northern 
region, will, under existing circumstances, escape, for the reason 
that its soil and climate are uncongenial with the staples of slave 
culture — rice, sugar, cotton, and tobacco. Moreover, since the 



I 



! FREEDOM AND PUBLIC FAITH. 391 

public attention has been so well and so effectually directed 
toAvard the subject, I cherish a hope that slavery may be pre- 
vented even from gaining a foothold in Kansas. Congress only 
gi^•es coiisent, but it docs not and can not introduce slavery 
there. Slavery will be embarrassed by its own over-grasping 
spirit. No one, I am sure, anticipates the possible re-establish- 
ment of the African slave trade. The tide of emigration to 
Kansas is therefore to be supplied there solely by the domestic 
fountain of slave production. But slavery has also other regions 
besides Kansas to be filled from that fountain. There are all 
of New Mexico and all of Utah already Avithin the United States ; 
and then there is Cuba, that consumes slave labor and life as 
fast as any one of the slaveholding states can supply it ; and 
besides these regions, there remains all of Mexico down to the 
isthmus. Tlie stream of slave labor flowing from so small a 
fountain, and broken into several divergent channels, will not 
cover so great a field ; and it is reasonably to be hoped that the 
part of it nearest to the north pole will be the last to be inunda- 
ted. But African slave^ emigration is to compete with free emi 
gration of white men, and the source of this latter tide is as 
ample as the civilization of the two entire continents. The hon- 
orable senator from Delaware mentioned, as if it were a start- 
ling fact, that twenty thousand European immigrants arrived 
in New York in one month. Sir, he has stated the fact with 
too much moderation. On my return to the capital, a day or 
tv/o ago, I met tAvelve thousand of these immigrants who had 
arrived in New York on one morning, and who had thronged 
the churches on the following sabbath, to return thanks for de- 
liverance from the perils of the sea, and for their arrival in the 
land, not of slavery, but of liberty. I also thank God for their 
escape, and for their coming. They are now on their way west- 
w^ard, and the nev>'s of the passage of this bill, preceding them, 
will speed many of them toward Kansas and Nebraska. Such 
arrivals are not extraordinary — they occur almost every week ; 
and the immigration from Germany, from Great Britain, and 
from Norway, and from Sweden, during the European war, will 
rise to six or seven hundred thousand souls in a year. And 
Avith this tide is to be mingled one rapidly swelling from Asia 
and from the islands of the South seas. All the immigrants, 



392 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

under this bill as the house of representatives ovennling' yoxi 
have ordered, will he good, loyal, liberty-loving, slavery-fearing 
citizens. Come on, then, gentlemen of the slave states. Since 
there is no escaping your challenge, I accept it in behalf of the 
cause of freedom. We will engage .in competition for the virgin 
soil of Kansas, and God give the victory to the side which is 
stronger in numbers as it is in right. 

There are, however, earnest advocates of this bill, who do not 
expect, and who, I suppose, do not desire, that slavery shall 
gain possession of Nebraska. What do they expect to gain 1 
The honorable senator from Indmna [Mr. Pettit] says that by 
thus obliterating tlie Missouri Compromise restriction, they will 
gain a tabula rasa, on which the inhabitants of Kansas and 
Nebraska may write whatever they will. This is the great prin- 
ciple of the bill, as he understands it. Yf ell, what gain is there 
in that? You obliterate a constitution of freedom. If they 
write a new constitution of freedom, can the new be better than 
the old % If they write a constitution of slavery, will it not be 
a worse one ? I ask the honorable senator that ! But the hon- 
orable senator says that the people of Nebraska will have the 
privilege of establishing institutions for themselves. They have 
now the privilege of establishing free institutions. Is it a pri-v^i- 
lege, then, to establish slavery ? If so, what a mockery are all 
our constitutions, which prevent the inhabitants from capriciously 
subverting free institutions and establishing institutions of slavery ? 
Sir, it is a sophism, a subtlety, to talk of conferring upon a 
country, already secure in the blessings of freedom, tlio power 
of .self-destruction. 

What mankind everywhere want, is not the removal of the 
constitutions of freedom which they have, that they may make 
at their pleasure constitutions of slavery or of freedom, but the 
privilege of retaining constitutions of freedom when they already 
have them, and the removal of constitutions of slavery when 
they have them, that they may establish constitutions of free- 
dom in their place. We hold on tenaciously to all existing 
constitutions of freedom. Who denounces any man for dili- 
gently adhering to such constitutions ? Who would dare to 
denounce any one for disloyalty to our existing constitutions, if 
they were constitutions of despotism and slavery ? But it is 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 893 

I supposed by some that this principle is less important in regard 
to Kansas and Nebraska than as a general one — a general prin- 
ciple applicable to all other present and future territories of the 
United States. Do honorable senators then indeed suppose 
they are establishing a principle at all ? If so, I think they 
egregiously err, whether the principle is either good or bad, right 
or wrong. They are not establishing it, and can not establish 
it in this way. You subvert one law capriciously, by making 
another law in its place. That is all. Will your law have any 
more weight, authority, solemnity, or binding force on future 
Congresses than the first had ? You abrogate the law of your 
predecessors — others will have equal power and equal liberty 
to abrogate yours. You allow no barriers around the old law, 
to protect it from abrogation. You erect none around your new 
law, to stay the hand of future innovators. 

On what ground do you expect the new law to stand ? If 
you are candid, you will confess that you rest your assumption 
on the gi'ound that the free states will never agitate repeal, but 
always acquiesce. It may be that you are right. I am not 
going to predict the course of the free states. I claim no 
authority to speak for them, and still less to say what they will 
•do. But I may venture to say, that if they shall not repeal 
- this laAv, it Avill not be because they are not strong enough to do 
it. They have power in the house of representatives greater 
than that of the slave states, and, when they choose to exercise 
it, a power greater even here in the senate. The free states 
• are not dull scholars, even in practical political strategy. When 
you shall have taught them that a compromise law establishing 
freedom can be abrogated, and the Union nevertheless stand, 
you will have let them into another secret, namely : that a law 
'.permitting or establishing slavery can be repealed, and the 
Union nevertheless remain firm. If you inquire Avhy they do 
not stand by their rights and their interests more firmly, I will 
tell you to the best of my ability. It is because they are con- 
scious of their strength, and therefore unsuspecting, and slow to 
apprehend danger. The reason why you prevail in so many 
contests, is because you are in perpetual fear. 

There can not be a convocation of abolitionists, however im- 
practicable, in Faneuil Hall or the Tabernacle, though it con- 

17* 



394 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

sists of men and women who have separated themselves from 
all effective political parties, and who have renomiced all politi- 
cal agencies, even thongh they resolve that they will vote for 
nobody, not even for themselves, to carry out their purposes, 
and though they practise on that resolution, but yon take alarm, 
and your agitation renders necessary such compromises as those 
of 1820 and 1850. AYe are young in the arts of politics; you 
are old. We are strong ; you are weak. We are, therefore, 
over-confident, careless, and indifferent ; you are vigilant and 
active. These are traits that redound to your praise. They 
are mentioned not in your disparagement. I say only that 
there may be an extent of intervention, of aggression, on your 
side, which may induce the North, at some time, either in this 
or in some future generation, to adopt your tactics and follow 
your example. Remember now, tliat by unanimous consent, 
this neAv law will be a repealable statute, exposed to all the 
chances of the Missouri compromise. It stands an infinitely 
worse chance of endurance than that compromise did. 

The Missouri Compromise was a transaction which wise, 
learned, patriotic statesmen agreed to surround and fortify with 
the principles of a compact for mutual considerations, passed 
and executed, and therefore, although not irrepealable in fact, 
yet irrepealable in honor and conscience ; and, down at least 
until this very session of the Congress of the United States, 
it has had the force and authority not merely of an act of Con- 
gress, but of a covenant between the free states and the slave 
states, scarcely less sacred than the constitution itself. Now, 
then, who are your contracting parties in the law establishing 
governments in Kansas and Nebraska, and abrogating the Mis- 
souri Compromise 1 What are the equivalents in this law 1 
What has the North given, and what has the South got back, 
that makes this a contract ? Who pretends that it is anything 
more than an ordinary act of orditiary legislation 1 If, then, a 
law which has all the forms and solemnities recognised by com- 
mon consent as a compact, and is covered with traditions, can 
not stand amid this shuffling of this balance between the free 
states and the slave states, tell me v/hat chance this new law 
that you are passing will have ? 

You are, moreover setting a precedent which abrogates all 



NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. 



395 



compromises. Four years ago, you obtained the consent of a 
portion of the free states — enough to render the effort at im- 
mediate repeal or resistance alike impossible — to what we 
regarded as an unconstitutional act for the surrender of fugitive 
slaves. That was declared, by the common consent of the per- 
sons acting in the name of the two parties, the slave states and 
the free states in Congress, an irrepealable law— not even to be 
questioned, although it violated the constitution. In establishing 
this new principle, you expose that law also to the chances of 
repeal. You not only so expose the fugitive slave law, but there 
is no solemnity about the articles for the annexation of Texas to 
the United States, which does not hang about the Missouri com- 
promise ; and when you have shown that the Missouri com- 
promise can be repealed, then the articles for the annexation of 
Texas are subject to the will and i)leasure and the caprice of a 
temporary majority in Congress. Do you, then, expect that 
the free states are to observe compacts, and you to be at liberty 
to break them ; that they are to submit to laws and leave them 
on the statute-book, however unconstitutional and however 
grievous, and that you are to rest under no such obligation 1 I 
think it is not a reasonable expectation. Say, then, who from 
the North will be bound to admit Kansas, when Kansas shall 
come in here, if she shall come as a slave state ? 

The honorable senator from Georgia, [Mr. Toombs,J and I 
know he is as sincere as he is ardent, says if he shall be here 
when Kansas comes as a free state, he will vote for her admis- 
sion. I doubt not that he would ; but he will not be here, for 
the very reason, if there be no other, that he would vote that 
way. When Oregon or Minnesota shall come here for admis- 
sion—within one year, or two years, or three years fi^om this 
time — we shall then see what your new principle is worth hi 
its obligpiion upon the slaveholding states. No ; you establish 
no principle, you only abrpgate a principle which was estabhsh- 
ed for your own security as well as ours ; and while you thmk 
you are r-bnegating and resignhig all power and all authority on 
this subject into the hands of the people of the territories, you 
are only getting over a difficulty in settling this ciuestion ni the 
organization of two new territories, by postponing it till thev 
come here to be admitted as states, slave or free. 



896 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

Sir, in saying that your new principle will not be established 
by this bill, I reason from obvious, clear, well-settled principles 
of human nature. Slavery and Freedom are antagonistical ele- 
ments in this country. The founders of the constitution framed 
it with a knowledge of that antagonism, and suffered it to con- 
tinue, that it might work out its own ends. There is a commer- 
cial antagonism, an irreconcilable one, between the systems of 
free labor and slave labor. They have been at war with each 
other ever since the government was established, and that war 
is to continue for ever. The contest, when it ripens between 
these two antagonistic elements, is to be settled somewhere ; it is 
to be settled in the seat of central power, in the federal legisla- 
ture. The constitution makes it the duty of the central govern- 
ment to determine questions as often as they shall arise in favor 
of one or the other party, and refers the decision of them to the 
majority of the votes in the two houses of Congress. It will 
come back here, then, in spite of all the efforts to escape from it. 

This antagonism must end either in a separation of the antag- 
onistic parties — the slaveholding states and the free states — or, 
secondly, in the complete establishment of the influence of the 
slave power over the free — or else on the uDther hand, in the es- 
tablishment of the superior influence of Freedom over the inter- 
ests of slavery. It will not be terminated by a voluntary seces- 
sion of either party. Commercial interests bmd the slave states 
and the free states together in links of gold that are riveted 
with iron, and they can not be broken by passion or by ambition. 
Either party will submit to the ascendency of the other, rather 
than yield to the commercial advantages of this Union. Politi- 
cal ties bind the Union together — a common necessity, and not 
merely a common necessity, but the common interests of empire 
— of such empire as the world has never before seen. The con- 
trol of the national power is the control of the great western 
continent ; and the control of this continent is to be in a very 
few years the controlling influence in the world. Who is there 
North, that hates slavery so much, or who, South, that hates 
emancipation so intensely, that he can attempt, with any hope 
of success, to break a Union thus forged and welded together ? 
I have always heard, with equal pity and disgust, threats of dis- 
union in the free states, and similar threats in the slaveholding 



FREEDOM AND PUBLIC FAITH. 397 

states. I know that men may rave in the heat of passion, and 
under great political excitement ; but I know that when it comes 
to a question whether this Union shall stand, either with Free- 
dom or with Slavery, the masses will uphold it, and it will stand 
until some inherent vice in its constitution, not yet disclosed, 
shall cause its dissolution. Now, entertaining these opinions there 
are for me only two alternatives, viz. : either to let slavery gain 
unlimited sway, or so to exert v>^hat little power and influence I 
may have, as to secure, if I can, the ultimate predominance of 
freedom. 

In doing this, I do no more than those who believe the slave 
power is rightest, wisest, and best, are doing, and will continue 
to do, with my free consent, to establish its complete supremacy. 
If they shall succeed, I still shall be, as I have been, a loyal 
citizen. If we succeed, I know they will be loyal also, because 
it will be safest, wisest, and best, for them to be so. The ques- 
tion is one, not of a day, or of a year, but of many years, and 
for aught I know, many generations. Like all other great po- 
litical questions, it will be attended sometimes by excitement, 
sometimes by passion, and sometimes, perhaps, even by faction ; 
but it is sure to be settled in a constitutional way, without any 
violent shock to society, or to any of its great interests. It is, 
moreover, sure to be settled rightly ; because it will be settled 
under the benign influences of republicanism and Christianity, 
according to the principles of truth and justice, as ascertained 
by human reason. In pursuing such a course, it seems to me 
obviously as wise as it is necessary to save all existing laws and 
constitutions which are conservative of Freedom, and to permit, 
as far as possible, the establishment of no new ones in favor of 
slavery ; and thus to turn away the thoughts of the states which 
tolerate slavery from political efforts to perpetuate w^hat in its 
nature can not be perpetual, to the more wise and benign poHcy 
of emancipation. 

This, in my humble judgment, is the simple, easy path of duty 
for the American statesman. I will not contemplate that other 
alternative — the greater ascendency of the slave power. I be- 
lieve that if it ever shall come, the voice of Freedom will cease 
to be heard in these halls, whatever may be the evils and dangers 
which slavery shall produce. I say this without disrespect for rep- 



398 SPEECHES IN THE UHITED STATES SENATE. 

resentatives of slave states, and I say it because the rights of p-e- 
titlon and of debate on that subject are effectually suppressed — 
necessarily suppressed — in all the slave states, and because 
they are not always held in reverence even now, in the two 
houses of Congress. When freedom of speech on a subject of 
such vital interest shall have ceased to exist in Congress, then 
I shall expect to see slavery not only luxuriating in all new 
territories, but stealthily creeping even into the free states them- 
selves. Believing this, and believing, also, that complete re- 
sponsibility of the government to the people is essential to pub- 
lic and private safety, and that decline and ruin are sure to fol- 
low, always, on the train of slavery, I am sure that this will be 
no longer a land of freedom and constitutional liberty when sla- 
very shall have thus become paramount. Auferre trucidare fid- 
sis nominihvs iwiicrium afqve uhi f!olitucline77i faciuTit 2iace7n ap- 
pellant. 

Sir, I Imve always said that 1 should not despond, even if 
this fearful measure should be effected ; nor do I now despond. 
Although, reasoning from my present convictions, I should not 
have voted for the compromise of 1820, I have labored, in the 
very spirit of those who established it, to save the landmark of 
Freedom Avhich it assigned. I have not spoken irreverently, 
even of tlie compromise of 1850, which, as all men know, I op- 
posed earnestly and with diligence. Nevertheless, I have always 
preferred the compromises of the constitution, and have wanted 
no others. I feared all others. This Avas a leading princi- 
ple of the great statesman of the South [Mr. Calhoun]. Said 
he: — 

"I see my way in the constituLion ; I can not in a eorapromise. A com- 
promise is but an act of Congress. It may be overruled at any time. It 
gives us no security. But the constitution is a statute. It is a rock on 
which we can stand, and on which we can meet our friends from the non- 
slaveliolding states. It is a firm and stable ground, on which we can better 
stand in opposition to fanaticism than on the shifting sands of compromise. 
Let us be done with compromises. Let us go back and stand upon the 
constitution." 

I stood upon this ground in 1850, defending freedom upon it 
as Mr. Calhoun did in defending slavery. I was overruled 
then, and I have waited since without proposing to abrogate any 
compromises. 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 



399 



It has been no proposition of mine to abrogate tlicm now ; but 
the proposition has come from another quarter— from an ad- 
verse one. It is about to prevail. The shifting sands of com- 
promise are passing from under my feet, and they are now, 
without agency of my ovni, taking hold again on the rock of 
the constitution. It shall be no fault of mine if they do not 
remain firm. This seems to me auspicious of better days and 
wiser legislation. Through all the darkness and gloom of the 
present \our, bright stars are breaking, that inspire me with 
hope, and excite me to perseverance. They show that the day 
of compromises has passed for ever, and that henceforward all 
great questions between freedom and slavery legitimately commg 
lieve — and none other can come — shall be decided, as they 
ouo-ht to be, upon their merits, by a fair exercise of legislative 
power, and not by bargains of equivocal prudence, if not of 
doubtful morality. 

The house of representatives has, and it always will have, an 
increasing majority of members from the free states. On this 
occasion, that house has not been altogether faithless to the 
interests of the free states ; for although it has taken away the 
charter of freedom from Kansas and Nebraska, it has at the 
same time told this proud body, in language which compels 
acquiescence, that in submitting the question of its restoration, 
it would submit it not merely to interested citizens, but to the 
alien inhabitants of the territories also. So the great mterests 
of humanity are, after all, thanks to the house of representa- 
tives, and thanks to God, submitted to the voice of human 



nature. 



ILIUC. - 

Sir, I see one more sign of hope. The great support of 
slavery in the South has been its alliance with the democratic 
party of the North. By means of that alliance it obtained para- 
mount influence in this government about the year 1800, which, 
fi-om that time to this, with but few and slight interruptions, it 
has maintained. While democracy in the North has thus been 
supporting slavery in the South, the people of the North have 
been learning more profoundly the principles of republicanism 
and of free government. It is an extraordinary circumstance, 
which you, sir, the present occupant of the chair [Mr. STUA^iT], 
I am sure, will not gainsay, that at this moment, when thpre 



400 SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

seems to be a more complete divergence of tlie federal govern- 
ment in favor of slavery than ever before, the sentiment of uni- 
versal liberty is stronger in all free states than it ever was before. 
^With that principle the present democratic party must now 
come into a closer contest. Their prestige of democracy is fast 
waning, by reason of the hard service which their alliance with 
their slaveholding brethren has imposed upon them. That party 
perseveres, as indeed it must, by reason of its very constitution, 
in that service, and thus comes into closer conflict with elements 
of true democracy, and for that reason is destined to lose, and 
is fast losing the power which it has held so firmly and so long. 
That power will not be restored until the principle established 
here now shall be reversed, and a constitution shall be given, 
not only to Kansas and Nebraska, but also to every other na- 
tional territory, which will be, not a tabula rasa, but a constitu- 
tion securing equal, universal, and perpetual freedom. 



APPENDIX. 



Since the preceding pages were sent to the press, Mr. Sew- 
ard has been re-elected to the Senate of the United States for 
the term of six years commencing the 4th day of March, 1855. 
The votes stood in the Senate as follows : — 

For William H. Seward 18 

Daniel S. Dickinson 5 

WilUam F. Allen 2 

Millard Fillmore 

Ogden Hoflman 

Preston King 

Daniel L'llmann 

George R. Babcock ........ 

Sanford E. Church 

The Senators who voted for Mr. Seward were— 

Hon. William H. Robertson, of .Westchester county. 

" Robert A. Barxard, of Columbia " 

" Eliakim Sherrill, of Ulster 

" Clarkson F. Crosby, of Albany " 

" Elisha N. Pratt, of Rensselaer " 

" James C. Hopkins, of Washington " 

" George Richards, of Warren " 

" George Yost, of Montgomery " 

*• Daniel G. Dorrance, of Oneida " 

«* James Munroe, of Onondaga " 

" Geor€e W. Bradford, of Cortland " 

" William Clark, of Wayne " 

" JosiAii B. Williams, of Tompkins " 

•' Andrew B. Dickinson, of Steuben " 

" William S. Bishop, of Monroe " 

" Benjamin Field, of Orleans " 

" Martin Butts, of x\llegany " 

" Alvah H. Walker, of Chautauque " 



402 



APPENDIX. 



In the Assembly the votes were as follows : — 

For William H. Seward 69 

Daniel S. Dickinson 14 

Horatio Seymour 12 

"Washington Hunt . 9 

John A. Dix 7 

Millard Fillmore 4 

Scattering 11 

The members of the Assembly who voted for Mr. Seward 
were as follows ; — 



NAMES. COUNTIES. 

Hon. Silas Baldwin, of St. Lawrence. 
Hezekiah Baker, Montgomery. 
H. H. Beeeher, of Oneida. 
James Bennett, of Orange. 
J. P. Bennett, of Wayne. 
Samuel Beyes, of Orange. 
Levi Blakeslee, of Oneida. 
R. M. Blatchford, of l^ew York. 
N. C. Boynton, of Essex. 
Aaron B. Brusli, of Madison. 
Elisha W. Bnshnel], Columbia. 
A. Churchill, of Otsego. 
J. V. H. Clark, of Onondaga. 
Edmond Cole, of Rensselaer. 
S. B. Cole, of Steuben. 
Robert B. Coleman, New York. 
W. Comstock, of Otsego. 
Alexander Davidson, of Albany. 
James Donnan, of Schenectady. 
F. S. Dumont, of Tompkins. 
Moses Eames, of Jefferson. 
Jonathan Edwards, Rensselaer. 
Josiah T. Everest, of Clinton. 
Lewis Fairchilds, of Chenango. 
Edward Fitch, of Franklin. 
Wesley Gleason, Fulton and 

Hamilton, 
A, W. Hull, of Montgomery. 
Daniel Hunt, of Westi-hestez'. 
R. J. Jimmerson, of New York. 
C. P. Johnson, of Tio<):n. 



Hon. C. Littlefield, of Jefferson. 

" D. W. C. Littlejohn, of Orange. 

" James L Lourie, of Washington. 

" W. L Maehan, of Onondaga. 

" P. H, Maguire, of New York. 

" Charles M'Kinney, of Broome. 

" David Mallory, of Genesee. 

" Joshua Main, of Jefferson, 

" Lucius S. May, of Allegany. 

" C. Miller, of Delaware. 

" James M. Muni'o, of Onondaga. 

" John C. Paine, of Wyoming. 

" D. Palmer, of Chenango. 

" J. P. Pennoyer, of Tompkins. 

" Dudley P. Phelps, Onondaga. 

" David Piatt, of Suffolk. 

" J. H. Ramsey, of Scholiarie. 

" John F. Raymond, Richmond. 

" M. L. Rickerson, of Greene. 

" David Rhoda, of Columbia. 

" Orrin Robinson, of Chemung. 

" Cornelius Schuyler, of Saratoga. 

" B. Smith, of Monroe. 

" S. Smith, of Steuben. 

" J. W. Stebbins, of Monroe. 

" John Terhune, of Saratoga. 

" Gilbert Tompkins, of Madison. 

" Ira Tompkins, of Niagara. 

" J. B. Van Osdol, of Yates. 

" Diniel Walker, of Oneida. 

" Reuben Wells, of Warren. 



MR. 



SEWARD RE-ELECTED U. S. SENATOR. 403 



NAMES. COUNTIES. NAMES. COUNTIES. 

Hon. L. B. Johnson, of Allegany. lion. G. T). Williams, of Oneida. 
" John H. Knapp, of Cortland. " W. Wilsey, of Schoharie. 

" Jatnes Kirkland, Cattaraugus. " James T. Wisner, of Wayne. 
" C. C. Leiglj of lse\Y York. " William B. Woodin, of Cayuga. 

The manner of electing a senator by the legislature of New- 
York is seen by the following report of the proceedings of both 
branches on Tuesday, February 6, 1855 : — 

Senate-Chamber, Tuesday, February 6, 12 M. 
Sj)ccial Order, the Nomination of United States Senator. 

The roll having been called, each senator, as his name was called, named 
his candidate, as follows: — 

William H. Seward was nominated by [as before stated]. 

Daniel S. Dickinson was nominated by Messrs. Barr, Danforth, Halsey, 
Hutchins, and Watkins — 5. 

Ogden Hoffman was nominated by Mr. Brooks — 1. 

Preston King was nominated by Mr. Z. Clark— 1. 

Daniel Ullmann was nominated by Mr. Goodwin — 1. 

William F. Allen was nominated by Messrs. Hitchcock and Lansing — 2. 

George R. Babcock was nominated by Mr. Pntnam — 1. 

Sanford E. Church was nominated by Mr. Spencer — 1. 

Millard Fillmore was nominated by Mr. Whitney— 1. Mr. Storing was 
absent, 

Mr. Robertson moved that the message be sent to the assembly, to inform 
that body of the nomination of a candidate for United States senator by 
this body, and that the senate was ready to compare nominations, which 
motion was agreed to. 

A committee from the assembly informed the senate that the assembly 
had made a nomination for United States senator, and were ready to meet 
the members of the senate in the assembly-chamber, to compare nomina- 
tions. 

Under the lead of the sergeant-at-arms, the senate proceeded to the as- 
sembly-chamber. 

On returning from the assembly-chamber — 

The president announced that the nominations of the two houses were 
found to agree, and that William H. Seward had been declared duly elected 
United States senator from this state for six years from the 4th of March 
next. 

Assembly, Tuesday, February 6. 

At twelve o'clock, the house proceeded to nominate a candidate for the 
office of senator. 

William H. Seward was nominated by [as before stated]. 



404 APPENDIX. 

Daniel S. Dickinson was nominated by Messrs. Aitken, Allen, Buckley, 
Covey, Dixon, Ivans, Munday, Odell, Searing, Seymour, Smalley, Stevens, 
Storrs, and "Waterbury— 14. 

Washington Hunt was nominated by Messrs. Blessing, Chester, Gates, 
Lamport, F. W. Palmer, Peck, Petty, Rhodes, and Van Etten — 9. 

Horatio Seymour was nominated by Messrs. Bridenbocker, Conger, Davy, 
Devening, M'Langhlin, O'Keefe, Parsons, Seagrist, E. L. Smith, W. B. Smith, 
Wager, and Ward— 12. 

John A. Dix was nominated by Messrs. Chapin, Green, J. C. Parker, Rider, 
Selden, Staunton, and S. S. Whallon— 7. 

Horatio Seymour, jr., of Erie, was nominated by Messrs. Kendig and E. S. 
Whalen— 2. 

Preston King was nominated by Mr. L. Miller — 1, 

Millard Fillmore was nominated by Messrs. Cocks, Emans, W. W. Weed, 
and A. G. Williams — 4. 

W. W. Campbell was nominated by Mr. Headley — 1. 

Benjamin F. Butler was nominated by Mr. Masters — 1. 

John D. Howell was nominated by Mr. Wygant — 1. 

Albert Lester was nominated by Mr. Chase — 1. 

L. Wait was nominated by Mr. J. A. Smith — 1. 

Greene C. Bronson was nominated by Mr. Dodge — 1. 

Ogden Hoffman was nominated by Mr. Ferdon — 1. 

S. G. ilaven was nominated by Mr. Goddard — 1. 

Absent^ Messrs. Stuyvesant and Campbell. 

The clerk having announced the result — 

The speaker declared William H. Seward nominated. 

Mr. Blatchford moved that a committee be appointed to inform the senate 
that the house was prepared to meet that body in joint convention, to com- 
pare nominations for United States senator. 

The speaker named Messrs. Blatchford and Aitken as such committee. 

On the return of the committee — 

The senate appeared and took their seats in the front circle, when 

The lieutenant-governor called the joint convention to order, and 

The clerk of the senate announced the nomination of William H. Seward 
on the part of the senate, and 

The clerk of the house announced the nomination of William H. Seward 
on the part of the house. Whereupon — 

Lieutenant Governor Raymond declared Willam H. Seward elected sena- 
tor of the United States, from this state, for six years from the 4th of March 
next, to fill the vacancy which will then occur by the expiration of his pres- 
ent tei'm. [This announcement was followed by long-continued cheers from 
the galleries and lobbies, by waving of handkerchiefs in the ladies' gallery, 
and by applause on the floor of the house.] 

The senate then retired, when 

The speaker formally announced the result of the joint convention. 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Abrogation of the Missouri Compro- 
mise 147, 163, 223, 351 

Adams, John 270, 292. .333 

Adams, John Quincy 31, 33, 90. 121, 1.50, 219 
Addre.epos, Ar<rnments, and Speeches: — 

at Union College , 91 

in the Supreme Court of U. S. 92, 96, 243 

on Invention 92 

on Fugitive Slave Law 96, 243 

on Freeman's Trial 107, 275 

at Detroit 116 

at Cleveland 123 

at Rutland 1.38, 176 

at Columbus 158, .327 

at American Institute 158, 320 

at Yale College 169,291 

at Agricultural Fairs 176, 183 

in the U. S. Senate 176, et seq. 

atElmira 187 

at Dunkirk 188 

at Springfield 195 

at Westfield 200 

at Sunday-School Celebration 204 

at Anniversary of Bible Society 210 

in the Court of Chancery 219 

at Utica 227 

to the Indians 306 

in the N. Y. Senate 307 

of a ilepublican Convention 314 

a Legislative, in 1831 317 

on the President's Veto Insane Bill . 317 

on the Destiny of America 327 

on the Nebraska Question 351 

African SuflFrage 83 

Agriculture 53, 138, 175 

Agriculture (Selections)— 

Improvement Essential 175 

Homestead Exemption 176 

Prejudices against 176 

Asricultural Fairs 176, 183 

Albany Evening Journal 42 

Albany Regency, The 31, 35, 49, 314 

America, Destiny of 158, 327 

American Enterprise 277 

American Fisheries 138, 283 

American Independence, True Basis 158, 320 
American People, Development of. 169, 291 

Ameiican Steam Navigation 138, 277 

Ancestry of Sewards 13 

Anecdotes 13, 18, 21, 22 

Anthon John 25 

Aiiti-xMasonry 33, 317 

Anti-Rent Troubles 60 

Arctic Ocean, Sun'ey of. 138, 283 

Arguments, Forensic 92, 96, 107, 116, 243, 295 
Armstrong, Robert 18 



Auburn 

Austin, John M. 



PAGE. 

26, 90 
.. 91 



Fadsrer, Senator 225, 375 

Baltimore Convention 147 

Banking. Reforms in 58 

Barnburners and Hunkers 122 

Bell, Senator 163, 366 

Belknap, General 18 

Benton, Thomas H 367 

Berdan, David 32 

Ben ien, Senator 225 

Betts, Samuel R 18 

Bible, Thf 27, 210 

Bouck, William C 89 

Bradish, Luther 50. 89 

Branches of Seward Family 13 

Bridsmnn, Laura 295 

British Power 287 

Brovv^n, William 28 

Buel, Jesse 48 

Burke's Speech, imaginaiy 278 

Burr, Aaron 19 

Burt, James 18 

Calhoun, John C 1.53, 259, 312, 398 

California 132 

Canal, Chenango 36 

Canal, Erie. ...\ 68, 72, 192 

Cass, Senator 1.50. 366 

Cbase, Senator 16.3, 275 

Children of Exiles 212 

Cincinnati Case 96 

Clay, Henry 40, 83, 121, 130, 169, 367 

Clemens, Senator 205 

Clergy, The New England 168, 223 

Cleveland Speech, The 123 

Clinton, De Witt 52, 159, 183 

Clinton Family, The 17 

Golden, Cadwallader C 17 

College, Union 19 

College, Yale 169 

Colles, Christopher 183 

Collins Steamers, The 277 

Colonel John Seward 13 

Colored Citizens, Letter to 306 

Colt, John C, Case of 77 

ColumbiH, District of. 247 

Columbus Oration 1 58 

Commerce (Selections) — 

Public Faith 276 

American Enterprise 277 

The Whale Fisheries 283 

Commerce on the Pacific 286 

A Continental Railroad— its Com- 
mercial Ad vantages 289 



406 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Coinpi-omse Bill, The 135, 141, 145, 147, 238 
Compromises cannot settle the Slavery 

Question 270 

Congress of 1853-54 161 

Constitutional Convention 122 

Continental Railroad 289 

Continental Rights 150 

Conventions, Baltimore 147 

Convention, Yonng M(>n's 33 

Cooperstown Case 96 

Cooper, J. Fenimore 95 

Court of Errors 45 

Criminal Trials 95 

Crittenden, John J 66 

Cuba, Annexation of 150, 155 

Davis, Governor ] 95 

Dawson, Senator 227 

Dedication of University at Columbus, 

Ohio 158, 327 

D'Hauteville, Madame 80 

Di^linquents, Juvenile 77 

Destiny of America, The 158, 327 

Detroit Case, The 115 

Development of American People, &c.. 169 

District of Columbia, Slavery in 247 

Disunion, Apprehensions of, groundless. 257 

Dix, Miss D. L 318 

Dix, John A 131 

Dixon, Senator 163 

Doctor S. S. S(>vvard 14 

Do.-tor of Laws, Degree of 169 

Domain, The Public 136, 161, 254, 309 

Douglas, Senator 162 

Duef, John 18, 25 

Dunkirk, Speech at 188 

Education, Universal 36, 53, 200, 299 

Education (Selections) — 

its propel- Range 200 

a Leveller .". 202 

Female 205 

and the People 206 

better than Conquest 207 

the Bible, and a Republic 210 

defective System of 210 

Amendments proposed 210 

Children of Exiles 212 

The Public School Society 215 

Elections by the People 37, 62 

Election ot Governor 51 

Election of 1840 88 

ofl844 121 

of 1848 122 

of 1852 141, 147 

Election of Senator 131 

P":igin, Lord 1<10 

Emancipation in District of Cokimina.. 247 

Enlargement of Erie Canal 68, 72, 192 

Enterprise, American 277 

Erie Railroad 36, 49, 73, 187 

EULOGIKS — 

on John Quincy Adams 91, 219 

onO'Connell 98 

on James Tallmadgo 158 

on Henry Clay 169 

on Daniel Webster 169 

Europe, Freedom in 137 

Europe. Letters from 42 

Everett, Senator 163, 168 

Exiles, Children of. ' 216 



Extradition of Fugitives 245 

Fairs, Agricultural 176, 183 

Faith, Public 276, 351 

Family, The Seward 13 

Female Convicts 76 

Fenelon Archbishop 294 

Fes.seiiden, Senator 163 

Fillmore, Millard 34, 145. 170 

Fisheries, American IIJS 

Fisheries, Whale 283 

Fish, Governor 37 

Fiteh, AIm-1 F 115 

Flaui:, Comptroller 69 

Fl.nida, Villase of 14, 18 

Forensic Arguments.... 92, 116, 119, 243, 295 

Frankhn, Benjamin 234 

Freedom and Public Faith 351 

Freedom and Slavery 126, 136, 219, 351 

Fkeedoih (Selections)— 

Eulogy on J. Q. Adams 219 

Mutual Rights and Duties of Nations 221 

The Right^of Petition 223 

• Political Equality 226 

ReligioTfis Intolerance 227 

Intolerance 229 

Louis Kossuth 231 

Congressional Compromises 238 

The Recaption of Fujjitive Slaves... 240 
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 Un- 
constitutional and Void 243 

Exti'adition of Fugitives 245 

Emancipation in the District of Co- 
lumbia 247 

Admission of new Slave-holiling 

States... 249 

Uses of the National Domain 254 

Slavery in the new Territories 255 

Apprehensions of Disunion ground- 
less 257 

Slavery 268 

The Slavery Question can never be 

settled by Compromises 270 

Moderation 273 

Freeman Case, The 99, 295 

French Spoliations 136, 276 

Fugitives. Extradition of 245 

Fugitive Slaves 82, 96, 119, 243 

Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 96, 243 

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 144 

Gadsden Treaty, The 168 

Georgia, Seward Family in 13 

Governor, Election of. 47, 51 

Granger, Francis 34 

Groundless Apprehensions of Disunion. 257 

Hall, Willis 65 

Hjunilton, Alexander 333 

Harrison, General 65, 88 

Hawley, Jesse 183 

Hickok, Rev.Dr 24 

Higher Law, The 133, 242, 254, 271, 332 

Hoffman, Ogden 18, 25 

Holland Land Company. 47 

Homestead Bill, The 161, 309 

Houston, Senator , 163 

Ilulbi-rt. John M 28 

Human Nature, The Cause of 336 

Hungarian Liberty 137 

Hunkers and Barnburners 122 



INDEX. 



407 



PAGE. 

Hunt, Governor 37 



Iinprisontnent for Del)t 

Improvomont of Asriculturf 

Indemnitief!, French Spoliations 

Indcp^indeiicc, Americai), True Basis 158, 

ln<li=in,?. The 

Insanity 

Insanity, Causes and Circumstances 

Insane, Relief of, Veto 162, 

Institute, American, Address 158, 

Iri>titiite founded by S. S. Seward 

Inteinril improvements.. 36, 68, 73, 121, 
Internal I^iprovemEiVts (Selections)- 

The Policy of the Founders of the 
Repuiilic. 

Wise and Beneficent 

Source of Prosperity to the State... 

only sure Bond of Union 

Suspension of, condemned 

Resumption of, recommended 

New York and Massachusetts 

Intolerance 227, 

Inventi^rs. Rights of 

Invention. Speech on 

Ireland, Wrongs of 

Irish Patriots. .". 

Iron, Railroad, Speech 



JacKson, Anarew 33, 43. 3] 2 

Jay, John 82, 251 

Jav. William 51 

Jefferson, Thomas 270 

Jennings, Isaac 14 

Jennings, Mary 15 

Jury Trial for Fugitives 82 

Kansas and Nebraska... 145.147,162.223,351 

Kent, William 24 

Kentucky, Seward Family 13 

KeTituck}-, Slavery in 270 

Kidnnppf'd Neirroes recovered 83 

Kino-, William R 284 

Kossuth, Louis 137, 231 

Land-^ The Public 136, 161, 254, 309 

Law, Gov. Marcy's Loan 36 

Law, The Fugitive Slave 96, 1 44, 243 

Law, Tlie Higher 133, 242, 254, 271, 332 

Letter to Colored Citizens 306 

Letter to New York, Nebraska 164 

Letter to S. P. Chase .* 273 

Libel, The Law of 119 

Liberty of the Press 119 

Marcy, Governor 36, 47 

Massachusetts and New York 191, 195 



Massacre of Van Nest Family. 
Maxwell, Hugh. 



... 99 

... 6i 

M'Cormick's Reaper 282 

M'Leod Case, The 64 

Meagher, Thomas F 137 

Memoir — 

The Seward Family 13 

SrunueJ S. Seward 14 

The Mother of William H. Seward. 15 

Irish Lineage 15 

William Henry Seward 17 

Birthplace 17 

Boyhood 18 



24 



25 



PAGE. 

Memoir — 

School-Days 18 

Orauire County 17 

Farmers' Hall Academy 19 

Young Seward enters Union College 19 

His College Life 20 

Favorite Studies 20 

Visits the South 20 

Becomes a Teacher 21 

Anecdotes 21 

Returns to College 22 

Exeitinir Contests 23 

Triumph of Seward 23 

Graduates 24 

William Kent 24 

Seward appointed to address Dan- 
iel D. Tompkins 24 

His Relations with Dr. Nott and his 

Collea:e Companions 

Enters the Law Office of John An- 

thon as a Student 

Completes his Studies with John 

Duer and Oaden Hoffman 25 

Admitted to the Bar 25 

Removes to Auburn 25 

Associates with Judge Miller 25 

Marriacfo 26 

Children 26 

Auburn, its Characteristics 26 

Mr. Seward's Relisious Principles . . 26 
Hi.^ Early Devotion to Public Im- 
provement 27 

Character as a Lawyer 27 

John C. Spencer 28 

John M. Hulbert 28 

Mr. Seward's Success at the Bar... 29 

His Political Predilections 29 

Mr. Seward takes Ground against 

Slavery 30 

His Views and Course 30 

His Views of the Albany Regency 

inl824 31 

Oration for Greece 32 

Eulogy on David Berdan 32 

Youn's: Men's Convention 33 

John Q. Adams and General Jackson 33 

Antimasonic Excitement 33 

Mr. Seward nominated for Conaress 

inl828 33 

Declines 33 

Supports the National Republican 

Party 33 

Nominated for the State Semite 34 

Mr. Seward enters the Senate of 

New York 34 

His Position and Course 35 

His Maiden Speech 36 

Militia Reforms 36 



Internal Improvements 

Imprisonment for Debt 

Universal Education 

Elections by the People 

The United States Bank..-.. 

Prison for Females 

Oriain of the Whig Party. . 

Corporations 

Presidential Election, 1832. 

Clay and Wirt 

Mr. Seward's Course 



Visits Europe 41 



408 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Memoir — 

Letters from Europe 42 

Returns and resumes his Seat in the 

Senate 43 

Speech on the removal of the De- 

posites 43 

Governor Marcy's Loan Law 44 

The Court of Errors 45 

Mr. Seward as a Judge , 45 

His Eulogium on Lafayette 46 

Nominated for Governor, 1834 47 

His large Vote , 47 

Delivers an Address on Education 

and Internal Improvements at Au- 
burn 47 

Appointed Agent of the Holland 

Land Company 47 

Delivers a Discourse on Education 

at Westfield, Chautauque County, 

July, 1837 48 

Triumph of the Whigs 49 

New York and Erie Railroad 49 

Second Nomination for Governor, 

1838 50 

Elected Governor 51 

Complete Success of the Whigs, 

and overthrow of the Regency. . . 51 
Mr. Seward thetirst Whig Governor 

of New York 52 

Peculiar Circumstances 52 

Mr. Seward's Course and Measures 52, 53 
His Devotion to Improvements and 

Reforms 53 

Agriculture 5.3 

Education 54 

The School Controversy 54 

Immigrants 56 

Law Reform 56 

Decentralization of the Regency 

Power ' 57 

Reforms in the Banking System 58 

Small Bill Law 58 

Geological Survey 59 

Notes "on New York 59 

Abolition of Imprisonment for Debt 50 
Governor Seward's Course in the 

Anti-Rent Difficulties 60 

Vindication by Court of Appeals . . . 61 

Militia Reforms 62 

Election Laws 62 

Veto of the Registry Acts Suppressed 63 

Disturbances in Canada 64 

TheM'Leod Case 64 

General Han ison 65 

Mr. Webster. 65 

Mr. Crittenden 66 

Mr. Van Burcn 67 

Will is Hall 67 

John Tyler 67 

Mr. Seward's Firmness and Wisdom 

Illustrated 67 

Governor Seward and the Canals.. 68 

The Enlargement Question 68 

Report of S. B. Ruggles 69 

Mr. Flaag's Policy iT 69 

The State Debt 69 

Financial Crisis , 70 

Erroneous Estimates by the Canal 

Connnissioners Discovered 70 

Suspension of the Public Works 71 

Governor Seward's Comse 71 



PAGE. 

Mebioir— 

Resumption of the Public Works,.. 72 
His Policy vindicated and re-estab- 
lished in 1854 72 

Railroads 73 

New York and Erie 73 

Hudson River 74 

Pacific 75 

Pardon Cases 76 

The Insane Murderer 76 

Female Convicts 76 

Juvenile Delinquents 77 

Benjamin Rathbun 77 

John C. Colt 77 

Catharine Wilkins 78 

James Watson Webb and Thomas 

F. Marshall 79 

Madame D'Hnuteville 80 

Thurlow Weed 81 

The Registry Act 81 

The Lemmon Case 82 

Jury Trial for Fugitive Slaves 82 

State Officers prohibited from assist- 
ing in Arrest of Fugitive Slaves. . 82 
Rccuvery of Kidnapped Negroes... 83 

Solomon Northup 83 

Afiican SuftVage 83 

The Virginia Controversy 84 

Imprisonment of Colored Men in 

Slave States 87 

• Resolves to decline a Re-Election. . . 87 
General Harrison's Election in 1840 88 

Mr. Clay's Nomination in 1844 88 

Governor Seward's View 88 

Defeat of the Whig? 89 

Luther Bradish 89 

Governor Bouck 89 

Mr. Seward in Private I,ife 90 

Receives John Quincy Adams at 

Auburn 90 

Deathof John Quincy Adams 91 

Mr. Seward's Eulogy 91 

Mr. Seward as an Advocate 92 

Practice at the Bar 92 

Patent Causes 92 

Extract from Argument 92 

Capital Trial at Coopersto wn .96 

Fugitive Slave Trial 96 

Eulogy on O'Connell 98 

TliQ Wyatt and Freeman Cases 99 

Massacre of the Van Nest Family... 99 

Trial of Freeman 102 

Extract from Mr. Seward's Argu- 
ment. 107 

Sentence of Freeman Ill 

New Trial granted 112 

Death of Fi-eeman 112 

Change in Public Opinion 113 

Pi.eview of the Case 113 

The Trial of Abel F. Fitch and oth- 
ers for Conspiracy at Detroit in 

1851 115 

Mr. Seward's Defence 116 

Extract from his Argument 116 

His Views of Libel Suits 119 

Mr. Seward recalled to Public Life. 120 

•Retrospect 120 

Organization of the Native Ameri- 
can Party 120 

J\Ir. Seward's Course 121 

Annexation of Texas 121 



INDEX. 



409 



PAGE. 

Memoik— 

Hunkers and Barnbuineis 122 

Constitutional Convention, 1S46 122 

Presidential Election, 1848 J 22 

His Speech at Cleveland 12:i 

The Whig Platform in 1848 124 

Freedom and Slavery 126 

President Taylor 131 

Mr. Seward elected Senator 131 

His Relations with General Taylor. 132 

The Higher Law 133 

The Compromises 135 

Freedom in District of Columlua... 136 

French Spoliations 136 

Tlio Public Lands 136 

Kossuth 137 

Smith O'Brien 137 

Thomas F. Meagher 137 

Freedom in Europe 137 

American Steam Navigation 138 

American Fisheiies 138 

Agricultural Address 138 

The Presidential Election of 1852... 141 
Review of the Slavery Contest ol 1850 14 1 

General Taylor's Position 142 

Mr. Seward supports it 142 

Denounced as an Ai^itator 143 

The Fugitive Slave Bill 144 

The Compromises 145 

Death of President Taylor 145 

Mr. Fillmorr's Course and Coalition 

with the Democrats 146 

Franklin Pierce 147 

General Scott 147 

Millard Fillmore 147 

Daniel Webster 147 

Platform for Slavery 147 

Mr. Webstei 's Course 148 

Election of Franklin Pierce 148 

Defeat of General Scott. 149 

Thirty-Second Congress, Second 

Session, 1852-53 150 

John Quincy Adams and General 

Cass 150 

Annexation of Cuba 155 

Extract from Mr. Seward's Speech 

on Railroads 156 

Texas and her Creditors 158 

The Destiny of America 158 

Address before American Institute. 158 

Eulogium on James Titllmadge 158 

Thirty-Third Congress 161 

Nebraska 161 

Introduction of the Nebraska Bill by 

Mr. Douglas 162 

Fruit of the Compromise Measui-es 

of 1850 162 

Mr. Seward's Letter to the New 

York Merchants 146 

His Second Nebraska Speech 166 

His Speech on the Reception of a Re- 
monstrance from 3050 Clergymen. 168 
Review of Jlr. Seward's Course in 

the Senate 168 

Eulogium on Henry Clay 169 

Eulogium on Daniel Webster 169 

His Relations to the Whig Party and 
to Mr. Fillmore's Administration. 170 

Messages, Annual 175 

Mexican Relations 155 

Mexican War 121 



Mic-higHU Railroad Ctjrapany 

Militia Reforms 36, 

Miller, Elijah 

Milnor, James 

Miscellaneous (Pelrctions) — 

The American People, their Moral 
and Intellectual Development 

Insanity — Defence of Freeman 

Insanity, some of its Causes and Cir- 
cumstances 

The Wi-dngs of the Negro 

The Indians — Sp(?ech of Onondiiga 
Chief— Gnvcrnor Sewaid's Reply. 

Letter to Colored Citizens of Albany 

The Militia Sj'stem : Reforms Pro- 
posed 

The Puljlic Domain — The Home- 
stead Principle 

The Whig Party 

The Albany Regency in 1824 

Secret Political Societies 

Relief of the Indigent Insane 

The True Basis of American Inde- 
pendence 

Peace 

Missouri Compromise 30, 32, 147, 

Moderation recommended 

Monroe Doctrine, The 

Monroe, James 

Morris, Gouvenieur 

Morris, Robert 

Morris, Robert H 

Mutual Rights of Nations 



291 
295 

299 
302 

304 

306 

307 

309 
313 
314 
317 
317 

320 
324 
162 
273 
150 
150 
190 
183 
84 
221 



Nashville Convention 142 

National Domain, Uses of 254 

National Republican Party 33 

Native American Party 120, 229 

Navigation, Steam 138 

Nebi^aska and Kansas 147, 162, 223, 351 

Negro, The Wrongs of the 302 

New Jersej', Seward Family in 13 

New Mexico 133, 162 

New York Letter, Nebraska 164 



New York and Massachusetts. 
New Territories, Slaveiy in. . . 

Northup, H. B 

Northup, Solomon 

Notes on New Yurk 

Nott,Dr 



195 
255 
83 
83 
59 
24 



O'Brien, Smith 137 

Oceans, Arctic and Pacitic, Survey of... 138 

O'Connell, Daniel 98 

Officers, State, and Slaves 82 

Ohio, Lett«jr to 273 

Ohio, Speeches in 123,327 

Onondaira Indians, Speech to 304 

Oianye County, its History 17 

Oration at Columbus 158, 327 

Orations and Speeches (see Addresses).. 325 
Oregon Question, The 121 

Pacific Ocean, Sui-vey of. 138 

Pacific Railroad 75, 155, 289 

Pardon Cases, Interesting 76 

Party, The Democratic 29 

Party, The Whig 39, 49, 51, 313 

Peace 324 

Pennsylvania, Speeches in 123 

Petition, Right of. 147 



410 



INDEX. 



PACK. 

Phi Beta Kappa Society 169 

Philosophy, Political 331 

Pierce, Fianklin 147 

Plfltforms, Political. 147 

Politics and Slavery 29, 51 

Prejudices ao^ainst "improvement 176 

Presidential Elections 88, 121, 141, 147 

Proviso, Wilmot 123 

Public Faith 276, 351 

Public Lauds 136,161 

Public School Society 215 

Quebec and Montreal 140 

Question, The Nebraska.. 147, 162, 223, 351 

Question, The Oregon 121 

Question,The Slavery, and Compromises 270 
Quincy, Josiah 292 

Railroads advocated 73, 156 

Railroad, New York and Erie.. 36, 49, 73, 187 

Hudson River 74 

Ogdensburgh 73 

Pacific 75,155,289 

Albany and Boston 195 

Iron Duties 156 

Rathbun's, Benjamin, Case 77 

Recaption of Fugitives 240 

Reciprocity Treaty 168 

Reforms advocated 36, 53, 62, 307 

Registry of Voters 63, 81 

Relief for the Indigent Insane 317 

Religious Intolerance 227 

Repeal of Slavery Laws in New York.. 82 

Republics and the Bible 210 

Right of Petition 223 

Rome, The Example of. 339 

Ruggles, Samuel B 69 

Rutland, Address at 138 

Sabbath School Address 204 

Sackett, Gary V 61 

School Controversy (see Education) 55 

Scott, General 147, 150 

Secret Societies, Political 317 

Selections— 

Agriculture 175 

Internal Improvements 184 

Education 200 

Freedom 219 

Commerce 276 

Miscellaneous 291 

Senate, The New York 34 

Senate, The United States 168 

Seward Family, The 13 

Seward, John 13 

Seward, Samuel S 14 

Seward, William H. (see Memoir)... 17 

Sherwood, Luman 106 

Shields, Senator 366 

Sidney, Algernon 271 

Slavery... 21, 30, 82, 123, 131, 141, 145, 219, 

238, 255, 351 

Slave Law, Fudtive 96, 144, 240, 243 

Slave Laws of 1850 141, 162 

Smith, Gerritt 51 

Smith, Truman 163 

Societies, Secret Political 317 

South, The 21 



PAGE. 

Speeches (see Addresses) 175 

Spencer, John C ;. . . 28, 34, 72 

Spencer, Joshua A 28, 67 

Spolifitions, French 276 

Springfield Address 195 

States, New Slaveholding 249 

States, The, and the Union 317 

Steam Navigation, AmL'rican. 277 

Sumner, Charles 163 

Suspension of Public Works 71, 81, 192 

Tnllmadge, James 158 

Tallmadge. N. P 41 

'J'aylor, General 122, 131 

Taylor, Genera], His Death 145 

TiMTitoiies, Slavery in 255 

Texas, Annexation of 88 

Tompkins, Daniel D 24 

Tracy, Albert H 28 

Unconstitutional, Fugitive Laws 243 

Underwood, Senator 225 

Union, The 142, 188, 317 

Union College 19 

United States Bank 38 

Universal Education 36, 54, 200 

Universal Suffrage 122, 226 

Uses of the National Domain 254 

Utah and New Mexico 162 

Van Buren, Martin 31, 43, 65 

Van Buren, John 102 

Van Rensselaer, Stephen 60 

Vermont Agricultural Fair 176 

Vermont, Visit to 138 

Veto, The President's, of Insane Bill 317 

Virginia Case, The 84 

Virginia, Slavery in 270 

Virginia, Seward Family in 13 

Void, Fugitive Laws 243 

Wade, Senator 163 

Warwick, Town of 18 

Washington, Gen., and Col. Seward 13 

Washington and Internal Improvements 184 

Washington's Neutral Policy 137 

Webb, James Watson 79 

Webster, Daniel 65,72,130,147,169,249,313,367 

Webster, Noah 19 

Weed, Thuriow 34, 81 

Whale Fisheries, The 283 

Whig Convention, 1852 147 

Whig Party, Origin of. 39, 313 

Whig Party, Triumph of 51 

Whiting, Judge 112 

Whittlesey, Frederic 34 

Wilkin, Samuel J 18 

Wilkins, Catharine, Pardon 78 

Wihnot Proviso 123, 141 

Wirt, William, and the Presidency 40 

Wright, David 104 

Wright, Silas, Governor 101 

Wrongs of the Negro 302 

Wyatt, Heniy, Case of 99 

WyckofiF, Mrs ; 100 

Yale College Address 169; 291 

Young Men's Convention 33 



THE END. 



THE 

WORKS OF WILLIAM H. SEWARD, 

EDITED BY GEORGE E. BAKER. 
IN THBEE VOLUMES, 8V0. 



GENEIUL DIVISION OF CONTENTS. 
VOLUME I. 

I.— BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. 

II —SPEECHES IN THE SENATE OF NEW YORK. 
IIL-SPEECHES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 
IV.— DEBATES IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

v.— FORENSIC ARGUMENTS. 

VOLUME II. 

VI.— NOTES ON NEW YORK. 

Vn -ANNUAL MESSAGES TO THE LEGISLATURE. 
Vni.-SPECIAL MESSAGES TO THE LEGISLATURE. 
IX.— OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 
X.— PARDON PAPERS. 

VOLUME III. 

XI— ORATIONS AND DISCOURSES. 
XH.-OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 
XHI.— EXECUTIVE SPEECHES. 
XIV —POLITICAL WRITINGS. 

XV.-GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE. 
XVI— LETTERS FROM EUROPE. 
XVIL-SPEECHES IN THE SENATE OF THE U. S., continued. 



Prices-$2,50 per Volume in Clotli. 

3.Y5 per Voluine in Half-Calf. 
4.50 per Volume in Full-Calf. 

/. S. REDFLELD, Puhlish 
110 cS: 112 Nassau Street, New Yor 



K. 



2 THE WORKS OF WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 

It has been well said that there is no living American statesman whose 
works embody so much that will fix and reward the attention of the student, 
the statesman, and the philanthropist, as those of Governor Seward. To the 
general reader — to those who wish to know who and what Governor Seward 
is, and especially to all who desire to obtain a complete history of the times 
for the last quarter of a century — these volumes are of the highest interest. 

Popular Education in all its pliases ; Internal Improvements, embracing the 
entire history of the origin, completion, and proposed enlargement of the Erie 
canal, and of the New York and Erie and other raili'oads; Slavery, its rights 
and prerogatives, the duties and obligations of the free States in regard to 
it ; the Public Land question, with a history and discussion of the Anti-Rent 
troubles in this state ; Crime and its penalties; Political Economy, in its adap- 
tation to our national condition; the Fugitive-Slave Law ; the Annexation of 
Cuba; the Maintenance of the National Honor; the Protection of American 
Rights; the Public Lands, &c., &c., have all been discussed with a freedom, 
vigor, and clearness, seldom if ever equalled, and afford information to all 
•who wish to undei'stand or discuss the great questions of the day. 

In the execution of the mechanical portion of the work, it has been the aim 
of the Publisher that nothing shall be left to be desired. 

The volumes contain a Portrait of Governor Seward, a View of his Birth- 
place at Florida, N. Y., and his present Residence at Auburn — all engraven in 
the best style of the art. 

The Works have been received with unusual favor by all parties and shades 
of parties, as may be seen in the following extracts from the principal news- 
papers in the United States: — 

The Utica Herald says: "The type is plain and neat, the paper fine and 
white, the binding tasteful and durable, and each volume is ornamented with 
an engraving." 

The National Era speaks of them as "' three large volumes, containing in 
the aggregate near two thousand pages, giving evidence of great industry, 
thorough investigation, patient and laborious thought, excellent scholarship, 
and a wide range of ideas — possessing an interest and value independent of 
time and place." 

The Ne2v York Times says : " The first volume might be appropriately let- 
tered — ' W. H. Seward, thk Orator.' The second might stand by its side, 
in like manner — ' W. H. Seward, the Practical Statesman,' containing, 
as it does, his messages as governor, his pardon papers, official correspondence, 
and various writings upon political topics of state moment. The third volume, 
were we publisher, should be designated — ' W. H. Seward, the Scholar,' 
for in its pages appear his classical eulogies and agricultural discourses — selec- 
tions from his general correspondence and notes of European travel. And yet 
there is not a speech, a paper, or a letter, in either volume, from which the 
critic could not discover the three characteristics of a scholar, orator, and 
statesman." 

The Lotiisville {Ky.) Courier says: " Mr. Seward deserves distinction, not 
only as a ]iolitician or statesman, but also as a moral essayist, a philanthro- 
pist, a stanch friend of popular education, and a writer of great force and 
eloijuence." 

The National Intellip(cncer says : " The Works of William H. Seward are 
able woi'ks, and give evidence of great intellect, of study, taste, and generous 
feelings." 

The Phrenological Jottmal says : " These elegant volumes form a collection 
of writings on subjects of universal moment and interest, and in eveiy respect 
may be regarded as one of the most valuable publications of the dav." 



NEW, POPULAR, MD STANBAKD WORKS. 

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no AND 112 NASSAU STREET, NEW-YORK. 



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THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE. Same as the above, 8 vols. 16mo, cloth, .^.. . .. 6 

NOTES AND EMENDATIONS to the text of Shakespeare's Plays, from the Early Manu- 
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THE WORKS OF WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 3 

The Providence Jmmial arlds: " It is of much importnnce to commend these 
works to the youno: mrn of the country; they need them." 

The eminent critic of the New York Tribune, in an elaborate review, says, 
" During a career which embraces but little more than half a centuiy from his 
birth. Gov. Seward has furnished materials for this voluminous work, alike 
honorable to his ability, industry, and native nobleness of character. It 
comprises a range of subjects of remarkable extent — not limited to local or 
temporary interests." 

The literary editor of the Neio York Herald describes Mr. Seward's speeches 
in the senate "as "masterly historical dissertations, comprehensive, exhausting, 
and pertinent." 

A writer in Pntnain's Monthly ?<r\y?,'. " The volumes contain nearly every- 
thing that has come from his prolific pen ; nor is there any want of variety in 
the topics of which they treat." 

The Chrislinn Inquirer says: " We have received three noble octavos, con- 
taining the chief works of "our principal liberalist statesman, Seward. They 
exhibit a vast variety alike of subject and occasion." 

The New York Evangelist remarks that " few persons are aware how large 
a portion of his public efforts have been directed toward moral and social 
reforms, in which he has appeared much more the philanthropist than the 
politician." 

The Northern Christian Advocate pronounces them "three of the most use- 
ful and elegant volumes ever issued from the American press." 

The Christian Intelligencer says : " The contents of these sumptuous vol- 
umes have been ananffed with careful deference to order, with explanatory 
prefaces, &c., and will form a substantial addition to our political literature.' 

The Christian Ambassador says: " Whoever will candidly peruse the works 
will find that their author is a statesman in the highest sense of the word. 

The Boston Commonwealth observes that, " aside from the interest which 
their personal character will create, they throw much light upon the great 
questions of our times, and exhibit the reasons which have prompted the 
course of many eminent men. 

The Washington Republic says : " The New York senator has figured too 
largelv in the politics of the country, not to make this collection a desidera- 
tum to the American statesman, however he may disapprove ot much that the 
author has said and done." 

The Boston Transcript says : " It is sufficient honor to Mr. Seward, that 
his works arc necessary to any good American library." 

The Buffalo Co7nmercial Advertiser sny^: These " three handsome octavos, 
of six or seven hundred pages each, can n..t but be regarded as an important 
contribution to political literature." 

The Literary World, in a long article, says: "It is rarely our provinc to 
find so much ' completeness' in the publication of a work, as appears m the 
volumes before us.' 

The Ontario Times savs : "The work is sufficiently minute to serve n9 a 
book of reference for the" politician or student, and yet of such interest in Us 
arrangement, subjects, and style, as to be read with no less pleasure than 
profit by all." ,. i • u i 

The Hartford (Ct.) Republican says: "The volumes are edited with excel- 
lent judgment, taste, and skill, and will find their way into every library in 
the country. We think that many of the readers of these volumes will be 
surprised to find tln.f Mr. Seward is so little ..f a political paitisan. 



4 THE WORKS OF WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 

The Biiffalo Express says: "Not one of these volumes could have been 
spared— no pnge could have been abbreviated or suppressed without loss to 
the public, or injustice to the fame of the great man whose labors in behalf of 
his race these books durably record. What has been deemed a fault in the 
editor, or seemed to be but an author's purpose to accomplish, an appointed 
quantity of work, proves to be a judicious selection from the correspondence 
of Mr. Seward, and from his minor writings, to illustrate qualities of his char- 
acter as a statesman, politician, or moralist, and to show his connection with 
ail die important eiForts made by the Americans of this day to improve their 
civil and social condition, and to establish Justice and Fraternity. The fullest 
and most reliable evidsnce of a man's character and principles is to be found 
in his letters to his intimate friends — particularly when they are written in 
reply to reproaches, or argumentative remonstrances against his conduct. 

The entire works are an invaluable contribution to American literature, to 
the history of American politics, and to the science of government. They 
are indispensable to the politician, and should be in the library of every scholar 
in the country. In the discussion of measures of public policy, Mr. Seward 
IS methodical and thorough. He exhausts his subjects, and that in the frank- 
est and fairest manner. The most striking characteristic of his forensic efforts, 
and of the argumentation in his messages and addresses, is truthfuhiess. He 
is deeply in earnest at eveiy word. There is not a sophistry, there is not an 
evasion, not an indecision, to denote to you that the statesman is not perfectly 
persuaded that the policy he advocates is not such as a wise and good man 
should indicate, and a brave man pursue. There is no risk of confounding 
this earnest truthfulness at any time with the hardihood of a public man reso- 
lute to appear consistent. Pride is not in it, nor factiousness, nor compliance 
with the usages or requirements of party. On occasions of great moment, and 
under the most trying chxumstances, has this indispensable quality of a true 
and great man been displayed. False and hollow men would have souoht in 
silence a refuge from Faction and Hate, and a safeguard to well-nursed or 
Jucky reputations. But more than once has Mr. Seward, at the hazard of 
alienating his friends and the hazard of destruction by his enemies spoken 
the truth and defended the right. He has ever filled, full to overflowing, the 
measure of the duties of a representative to his constituents, and of a states- 
man to a people. This lustrous quality of sincerity runs like a vein of silver 
through all his writings. All candid readers must be struck with this : and if 
one were disposed to speculate upon the awards of History upon the charac- 
ters of public men of this day, he would inevitably say that the judgment upon 
n illiam H. Seward would be, ' This man was honest.' Thaf it will al«o 
pronounce him to have been wise and just, in a higher degree than were any 
ot his contemporaries in executive or senatorial office, we also believe." 

The Christian {Baptist) Review says: " His works are an honor to Ameri- 
can statesmanship, as well as a contribution to American literature, and will 
serve to raise the reputation which he has acquired both at home and abroad 
We admire his abilities and respect his integrity. Often opposing himself to 
the prepidices of the masses, always in advance of his time, he never shrinks 
from a measure because it is unpopular. Certainly no man ever deserved the 
epithet ot demagogue less." 



ALSO, JUST PUBLISHED, 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM H, SEWARD, 

W^ITH SELECTIONS FROM HIS SPEECHES, &c. 
Being an Abridgment of the foregoing Works, in one vol. 12mo,— price $100. 



J. S. IIKDFUCLD'S llECtXT PUBLICATIONS. 3 

•' 
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With Portraits of Wilsox, Lockhart, Magixn, IIogg.axd fac-simcles. 
EDITED, WITH MEMOIRS, NOTES, AND ILLUSTRATIONS, 

BY DR. SHELTON MACKENZIE, 

EuiroR OF Shkil's " Sketches of thb Ieish Bat.." 
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The Noctes were commenced in 1322, and closed in 1935 Even in England, the lapt« 
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lamihar ^^^°;i;^^^" f 'i^j/^^'^^^eli^^^^^^^^^ him^. He has been on term's of intimacy 

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three articles, entitled 

ever before printed, in 

nclude the greater number 

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NOCTES," and which'notices every living author of note, in the year 1822), w.U be m 

corporated in this edition. This has never before been reprinted here. 




Nearly Ready ^ in Two Volumes. 

THE ODOHERTY PAPERS, 

* FORMIXG THE FIRST PORTION OF THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS OF THE LATE 

DR. MxlGINN. 

WITH AN ORICxINAL MEMOIR AND COPIOUS NOTES, BY 

DR. SHELTON MACKENZIE. 

.„d . characteristic P»tr.i., wUh facma.. ^^^^^.^^^^ ^^ ^ ^ REDFIELD, 

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FIFTY YEAR^^^ 
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OR, REMINISCENCES OF A MERCHANT'S LIFE. 
By Vincent NoLTE. 12mo. Price $1.25. [Eighth Edition] ' 

fie^work"wTlil' ^'\"v? ' ^7 "^ '}' "^''^ prominent names introduced i 
e^^Tird -nitTpl'/es"!"" ^^' "^^^^^ '' ^''''''^' -^ ^-^^^^^ "-- 
Aaron Burr; GeneralJackson ; John Jacob Astor ; Stephen Girard 
La Fayette; Audu^^on ; the Barings ; Robert Fulton ; David ParTsh Sam 
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st'n'lbnt ' ^'- ^'"^ '. ^^^"^ ^..-^^^^ Q^^--^ ^d--« ; Edward lS 
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Sn^,T 'ri /• ^'^'i ' r^^'^''- ^°P" ^ ^°- 5 General Claiborne ; MaS 
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"He seldom looks at the bright side of a character, and dearly loves-h 
confesses . -a b,t of scandal. But he paints well, describes wdLseize 
tltTmusUate.'^ ^°^ """' '"" '° *' '"'"'*' *<^ "^'""^ <"■ ">e man X 

hTBrTtishandnnt'^vff^ V"?'"^^ f the largest commercial and financial Operatic, 
cnar linusli and Dutch capital and enterprise ever ventured upon, and has been bron o^ 

rema kaS: m^n Tli:itrTu' ^^^'^T'^^y -to mtima'oy-wuh': numbe'r^o^f f 

withsotil™l'a;nlTn^de^:;.'r:™;^^ 

As a reflection of real life, a book stamped with a strong personal character and fill, 
with unique details of a large experience of private and%ublic inLSt 4e un W 
nAVkfrcflT"" '" " " °"' '' *'^ "^°^* note-worthy productions oflhlday"-.^' 

Our old merchants and politicians will find it very amusing, and it will excite 
Jininiscences of men and things fortv vears a.rro Wa tt,; ,rht „.;.;„,•„ .A. u__ , 



things forty years ago. We might criticise the hap-haza, 

author, but the raciness c^^-' '--- " ■ ' - 

script. 

its a spicy variety of incid 
nteresting information, all the 



",VaXc^rir;:r^;:.,!ie- ^"' '^« ---->^'- -0^^ 



scripts 
of^ea'fv ul^l'^^Ij^^r'"".*' ^ spicy variety of incident and adventure, and a great de 
«r,p!17o o i interesting information, all the more acceptable for the profusion 

NnAL r ^/^''f "* !'^"'^^^ '^^th which it is interspersed.-Jv-. Y. Jour. ofComme^-c 
infercour iwt h ''''''"f P°'^'°'^."^.*^^^^°^'^'t° ^^ ^^re, is the narration of Nolte 
l^^'^^ZtsI^'^:-^,!:^^^^^^^ -^ occasionally ill-natured notice, 

theVrro'^rwbiwr'nJ-f °^ ''''""^ "'"'^ remarkable experiences, and will serve to recti 

Th« .LTJoL a f *^" P-^"' ^"^°''- "'^^ ^^ veritable history:-i(:«enn^^ Po5t. 
are viv.H.?,, .nH t'°^'''^^''°^',' ^"^timents. descriptions, and whole toSe of the boo 
reTiX Tn S ^^^'''m'i'k'"^' "''']''"/ allowance for obvious prejudices, graphic ar 
inland to ho h rfih ^'^l ^f wonderfully suggestive, to the young curiously infon 
ing, and to both rich in entertainment.— 5osfo7i .dtlas ' >= y " 

r>.fuhTr ^T.TJ'i "^""f 7«' \^ ^vould be difficult to find its superior ; but the book h 

^sS'oVr;it^frt;Ve^^r? ^^^'^^ ^^^^^°^ ^^°-' ^^ ^^^ ^-— -^ 
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